Sat 2/14 @ 10AM-5PM
The Cleveland festival season kicks off this weekend with one of our favorites: Kurentovanje. It’s a relatively new entry in the Northeast Ohio festival calendar, only in its 14th year.
It came about when people involved in archiving and sharing the history of Cleveland’s Slovenian community (which brought us the Cleveland-style polka, among other things) wanted to bring more attention to the area’s Slovenian heritage. They decided to create their own version of a festival called Kurentovanje, held each year in the Slovenian city of Ptuj, which attracts hordes of tourists. It features furry-suited “kurenti” ringing giant bells to chase away the winter. It debuts in 2013 outside the National Slovenian Home on St. Clair and East 65th, as a small neighborhood festival.
Now thousands of people line St. Clair to greet the parade of high school marching bands, ethnic dance groups, local businesses and polka bands and the increasing number of kurenti (even little kids now parade in the furry suits) and pour into the Slovenian home and its grounds afterward for an afternoon of music, food, drink, dance and other activities. It’s also expanded into a weeklong series of cultural events, such as films, lectures and cooking demonstrations leading up to the big day.
The festival day now kicks off at 9am, when registration starts in the front lobby of the Slovenian Home for the Kurent Dash 5K, which steps off at 10am. (You can register in advance here.) That’s also when the doors open at the Slovenian Home, for food, drink, music and kids’ activities, which continue all day with crafts, games, face painting, story time, sing-alongs and polka music on the lower level. Kids can make colorful headdresses to wear outside when the parade steps off at noon.
After the parade, there’ll be four stages of music and other entertainment including the ballroom stage with rock band LoConti and the Festa Band, as well as folk dance performances; a stage downstairs in the kids’ area with polka music by the Garrett Tatano and Anthony Culkar bands; the club room stage featuring the Breakfast Club playing rock covers’ and the outside tent where Kurenovanje regulars The Chardon Polka Band energize the crowd with high-energy polka versions of pop and rock hits. Things get crazy out there!
Kurentovanje concludes at 5pm with the Pokop Pusta (Closing Ceremony) outside by the fire pits, where an effigy is burned and buried, signifying the end of the festival. The Kurenti unmask and place black streamers in the coffin to be burned. The festival is extremely family-friends, free and open to everyone. You definitely don’t have to be Slovenian to have a good time!
Get more information and a full schedule here.