Mon 4/1 @ 10AM-8PM
Dyngus Day Cleveland is back once again and with some more changes in format. The event, based on a Polish celebration for letting loose the day after Easter and the end of Lent, was started by local musician Justin Gorski aka DJ Kishka, in 2011 as a huge street party whose essence was captured by a T-shirt in the crowd one year that said, “It’s good to be drunk and Polish.”
Originally held on Detroit Avenue in Gordon Square, it spread to a couple of adjoining neighborhoods. And then, in 2020, it went virtual for two years, not exactly the best way to have a street party. When it returned in 2022, it was a smaller, ticketed affair taking place at Gordon Square’s Gordon Green event space.
This year the ticketed party will still be happening at Gordon Green, but they’ll also be going back to the streets, closing down a couple of blocks of Detroit and putting another stage in front of the Happy Dog for some free entertainment. At both locations there’ll be “all the polka, paczki and piwo [beer] you can handle!” (And in some cases, more.) Somehow it seems perfect it’s on April Fool’s Day this year.
There’ll be music by polka bands such as Eddie Rodick, Fred Ziwich, Don Wojtila, Gemütlichkeit Cleveländer Musikanten and the Chardon Polka Band, vendors of all types, the Miss Dyngus Day and pierogi-eating contests at Gordon Green, both hosted by event host DJ Kishka. Some of the area’s many bars and restaurants will be having specials and we suspect the partying will continue there long after the event’s end time of 8pm.
Go here for more information and tickets.
Cleveland, OH 44102