Thu 11/26-Sat 11/28
If polka is “the happiest sound around,” as the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame claims, then Thanksgiving Polka Weekend is the happiest weekend of the year in Cleveland.
Started 52 years ago by local polka radio personality Tony Petkovsek, the three-day event brings in polka-lovers from across the rust belt — the stronghold of Eastern European ethnic communities that gave us polka — but also from as far away as Texas and California, where there are also outposts of fans.
Visitors who arrive at the downtown Marriot, where it all takes place, on Thanksgiving Day, will be greeted in the lobby from 3-6pm by the music of Michigan’s Linda Lee Brown. The dancing in the Grand Ballroom kicks off at 4 with musicians from Ohio and Pennsylvania. And if you get tired of dancing, you can sit in on a jam session in the Superior room, starting at 5:30 and going until “?” as they put it.
Friday is the big day, with the Fairport Polka Jammers kicking off a polka party in the foyer at 1pm, and the Grand Ballroom springing to life at 3 and going until — probably late again. The highlights of the evening should be the tributes to two Cleveland polka legends, Frankie Yankovic and Johnny Pecon, who both would have turned 100 this year.
The Yankovic tribute will feature Joey Miskulin, who got his start as a teenager in Yankovic’s band, Jeff Winard, Canadian Polka King Walter Ostanek and Bobby “Banjo” Yankovic. That’s at 7:30. Then at 9pm, Miskulin and Jeff Pecon will lead a tribute to Johnny Pecon. And yes, the Superior Room will again be the site of a more intimate gathering with Italian/Slovenian musician Denis Novato, Hank Thunander from Minnesota and northeast Ohio’s own Chardon Polka Band, a younger generation of players keeping the music alive.
Finally, Saturday’s events include the annual Polka Hall of Fame Awards Show in the Grand Ballroom at 2pm, which will also feature tributes to Yankovic and Pecon, as well as Cleveland-style accordionist/band leader, Slavko Avsenik who died this year. That will be followed by the much-loved polka mass at 4:30pm with Cleveland’s Joey Tomsick & his orchestra, also in the Grand Ballroom. And then there’s more dancing and jamming and dancing …. Etc.
And don’t worry about fuel: food, snacks and drinks will be available in the foyer right outside the ballroom. So you can recharge and go back out on the dance floor for another spin!
Tickets for all day Thursday and Friday are $15. Saturday evening dance tickets are $10; awards show tickets are $20. Saturday evening/awards show combo is $25. Call the Polka Hall at 216-261-FAME or go to clevelandstyle.com.
clevelandstyle.com/thanksgiving~weekend