Ukrainian festival feeds soul
Event a big boost to McKees Rocks
Anyone planning to join the annual St. Mary Ukrainian Festival in McKees Rocks is already Ukrainian, according to the Rev. Timothy Tomson. It’s what he preaches as he readies for the annual festival, an event he has led for the past 14 years.
The four-day festival begins Wednesday afternoon, highlighted, of course, by an abundance of traditional food and Ukrainian hospitality.
Father Tomson and his wife, Svitlana, a Ukraine native, say the festival brightens the community that was once known for its large Eastern European presence. “They miss baba’s food so they come back to the festival for that,” Father Tomson said.
The first festival lasted three hours and was held in the basement of St. Mary Ukrainian Orthodox Church on Ella Street.
“I wanted to share [Ukrainian] traditions and ethnic food and to highlight the beauty of the church,” Father Tomson said.
It also helped the church’s fundraising efforts, to “keep the bells of St. Mary’s ringing,” he said.
Three years later, the festival became too big for the basement and was taken to the street. It has grown even larger since.
People from Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Delaware, New York and Chicago make a pilgrimage to enjoy Ukrainian cuisine and culture.
But, Father Tomson said, food is always the biggest attraction. The biggest hit of the festival is pierogi (or varenyky in Ukrainian) — those half-moon shaped dumplings stuffed with potato, mushrooms, cheese or cherries. Holubtsi (cabbage rolls), halushki and Ukrainian beer also will be available.
Father Tomson said about 60 people are involved in running the festival.
“There’s a man who takes all week off from work to help with this festival and he’s not a parishioner,” Father Tomson said. “He works not far from the church at the store and helps us to set up and serve during the festival.”
But it’s Father Tomson’s family, which resides in Mt. Lebanon, that is the heart and soul of the festival. His daughter Sofia made a logo for the festival — a smiling Cossack with varenyky in one hand and a beer in the other.
At Father Tomson’s home, Ukrainian traditions are practiced. His two daughters speak their mother’s native language. Mrs. Tomson also paints pysanky for every Easter and started an egg-decorating workshop that teaches the community about Ukraine and its folk art.
When she emigrated to the U.S. from the Soviet Union in 1989, she moved to Pittsburgh with her husband after living in New Jersey for a couple of years. It quickly became her second home. Ms. Tomson says Western Pennsylvania reminds her of her native Zakarpattya region in western Ukraine.
“And Pittsburgh is a Kiev of America,” Father Tomson says with a smile, adding that the festival became such an important part of the community that Jack Muhr, the McKees Rocks mayor, calls the neighborhood where the festival is held “Little Kyiv.”
St. Mary’s Ukrainian Festival starts 5 p.m. Wednesday at 116 Ella Street and will continue into Saturday evening. Admission is free.
Olena Goncharova is a staff writer for the Kyiv Post, Ukraine’s largest Englishlanguage newspaper, and is working this summer at the Post-Gazette as an Alfred Friendly Press Fellow. She can be reached at ogoncharova@post-gazette.com.