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Photos: Dyngus Day in Cleveland brings lots of Polish cheer (with quite a bit of pierogi and beer)

Ideastream Public Media | By Ryan Loew

Published April 2, 2024 at 12:25 PM EDT

Miss Dyngus Day 2024 Christine Przybysz waves to onlookers after winning a competition for the title at Dyngus Day Cleveland on Monday, April 1, 2024.

Marlene Thompson knows a thing or two about polka parties.

“My grandpa came over from Poland,” the Akron resident said Monday at Dyngus Day Cleveland, an annual post-Easter celebration of Polish culture and heritage. “And so we’ve always grown up with the polka parties, and then when this polka party started in 2011, I was like, ‘I think I found my people.’”

And people there were. On Monday, scores of them filled a stretch of Detroit Avenue on Cleveland’s West Side to sing, dance, eat and drink, all to the tune of nonstop polka music.

“It’s polka. How do you not tap your foot and enjoy yourself?” said Dyngus Day Cleveland cofounder and emcee Justin Gorski, also known as DJ Kishka.

Wearing a long gray beard, top hat, sunglasses and a white Elvis-style jumpsuit, Gorski guided partiers throughout the day with a microphone and a turntable. He noted that this year marked a return to the street, a first since the COVID-19 pandemic. Also a first: the use of two stages for the event.

Dyngus Day, a traditional Polish celebration that's sometimes referred to as Wet Monday or Śmigus-Dingus, is held on the day after Easter. For Gorski though, the day means reveling in more than just Polish heritage, but also other Eastern European cultures as well.

“Everybody’s welcome, and it’s not just about being Polish,” Gorski said. “It’s about being a Clevelander and living here your whole life and enjoying how you grew up and how you celebrated all your holidays, wrapped into one — with 15 beers.”

Mark Jenks, of Strongsville, lights the “spring chicken” ablaze at the start of Dyngus Day Cleveland, symbolizing the beginning of spring and commemorating the end of Lent. “Which means now we can have a beer,” he said.

Dyngus Day Cleveland cofounder and emcee Justin Gorski, also known as DJ Kishka, poses for a photo with event-goers.

Dressed in a pierogi costume, Erika Thompson (center) dances with Trish Karabowicz (right) and Marlene Thompson, Erika's sister, (left) at the start of Dyngus Day in Cleveland.

Dyngus Day Cleveland revelers dance to polka music on Detroit Avenue near West 58th Street on Cleveland’s West Side.

Brian Brazier plays the tuba in The Chardon Polka Band.

Wyatt Giangrande, 7, of Lakewood, dances to polka music in the street at Dyngus Day Cleveland.

Squirt guns are prevalent at Dyngus Day Cleveland — a nod, as the story goes, to a time likely dating back hundreds of years ago when boys would pour water on girls in their villages as a way of flirting.

Sandy Ottinger, of Berea, wore earrings adorned with the Polish coat of arms.

Sandy Ottinger, of Berea, sings and dances to polka music at Dyngus Day Cleveland.

Erin Zacharyasz, of Olmsted Falls, wears read Converse shoes also adorned with the Polish coat of arms.

Dyngus Day Cleveland attendees (left to right): Michelle LoBuglio, of Medina, Robin Heimrich, of Wickliffe, and Annabelle Fredericks, 2, of Sagamore Hills.

Dyngus Day Cleveland cofounder and emcee Justin Gorski, who goes by DJ Kishka, plays the accordion to a celebratory crowd.

People dance while holding pussy willow branches, another traditional aspect of Dyngus Day. According to Dyngus Day lore, boys in Polish villages would smack girls with pussy willow strands, also as a means of flirting. — People dance while holding pussy willow branches, another traditional aspect of Dyngus Day. According to Dyngus Day lore dating back hundreds of years, boys in Polish villages would smack girls with pussy willow strands, also as a means of flirting.

Marcus Walker, co-owner of Akron’s The Pierogi Lady, prepares scores of the doughy dumplings at Dyngus Day Cleveland.

Posing for a photo at Dyngus Day Cleveland.

Cousins Joe Dobay, of Cleveland, (left) and Jeff Krupp, of Richfield, (right) stack their empty beer cans along with those emptied by passersby.

People participate in a pierogi-eating competition.

Mark Jenks, of Strongsville, smokes a cigar at the start of Dyngus Day Cleveland.

Revelers hold cutouts of Pope John Paul II and DJ Kishka.

Miss Dyngus Day 2024 Christine Przybysz waves to onlookers while being paraded down Detroit Avenue after winning a competition for the title.