Polski Day starts with a parade at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 6, at 14th and Central Avenue, and the parade ends with a festival at All Saints.
by Mary Rupert
About 20 women gathered to prepare golambki – cabbage rolls – for the 33rd annual Polski Day, to be held May 6 at All Saints Catholic Church, 809 Vermont Ave., Kansas City, Kansas.
Making enough food for an expected 2,400 meals requires a lot of advance preparation, according to Cathy Kolenda Smith, who has led this effort for the past 12 years.
To make the cabbage rolls, volunteers went through about 250 pounds of cabbage and 50 pounds of onions, she said. About 380 pounds of ground beef are required. The ingredients of golambki also include spices, rice and eggs. The cabbage rolls are cooked and then frozen in preparation for the festival.
There’s more food than golambki under preparation for Polski Day. According to Smith, nearly an entire freezer will be filled with 3,000 pierogi. Smith said there will be 275 pounds of smoked Polish sausages, 75 pounds of fresh Polish sausages, about 144 dozen cookies, 150 loaves of powitica and 100 strudels. The cookies will include bourbon balls, Polish tea cakes and pohanse.
A group of volunteers has been working on the Polski Day preparations for about 33 years. When asked if they do anything differently while preparing cabbage rolls for the festival than they usually do while making them at home, one volunteer, Ethel Golubski, said, “We just talk. We’re really good friends.”
Betty Kolenda, another volunteer, said they all had been volunteering for 33 years, except for her granddaughter, Sara Saracyewski Smith, who is younger than that and was helping today.
Cathy Kolenda Smith said the funds raised from Polski Day will go toward renovating the buildings at All Saints. There are plans to turn the old school building on the grounds into a parish meeting center, with a meeting room, reception hall and a chapel for prayer services, she said.
Polski Day commemorates the signing of the Polish constitution in May of 1791. The event will be held on Saturday, May 6, at All Saints Catholic Church, 809 Vermont Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. Smith anticipates about 4,000 to 5,000 people will attend Polski Day this year.
Polski Day kicks off with a parade at 11 a.m. May 6 at 14th and Central, ending at All Saints parish, where the event will be from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Music, food and games are planned. A 4 p.m. polka Mass then follows at All Saints parish.
