The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Sausage, polkas among festival attractions
The National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame & Museum is hosting its signature sausage party.
It’s one thing to break out the barbecue and start grilling some sausages over the coals.
But when a group of Cleveland-area Slovenians get together to cook some klobasa, dance the day away to polka bands from all over Ohio and beyond and name the reigning king or queen of the ‘que, it’s gotta be Slovenian Sausage Fest season.
For the 14th year, the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame & Museum is hosting its signature sausage party at the SNPJ Farm in Kirtland on Sept. 13.
This year’s sausage showdown will feature four area vendors, each competing for bragging rights and the coveted title of official sausage during the three-day Thanksgiving Polka Party Weekend at the Cleveland Mariott Hotel, said Joe Valencic, president of the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame & Museum.
This year’s contestants include Bill Azman from Azman Quality Meats in Euclid; his cousin, Frank Azman from Azman’s Market in Cleveland; Raddell’s Sausage Shop in Collinwood and Rudy’s Quality Meats in Willowick.
Valencic said the festival celebrates the kind of Slovenian smoked sausage that has become a Clevelandarea
trademark over the generations of Slovenian-Americans who have come to call the region home.
“It’s a specific kind of Slovenian sausage that has kind of developed here and
become a specialty of this area because of the Slovenian population in Cleveland,” he said during a Sept. 1 telephone interview.
He said the four vendors in this year’s competition
will vie for two separate distinctions: the juried prize and the honor of being the official sausage of this year’s Thanksgiving affair, and the people’s choice award to be determined
Valencic said the festival celebrates the kind of Slovenian smoked sausage that has become a Cleveland-area trademark over the generations of Slovenian-Americans who have come to call the region home.
via popular vote by festival guests.
But the food’s not the only thing to take center stage at the sausage festival. Live polka music from no fewer than 13 bands will share the limelight at the event, as well.
“It’s non-stop music from noon to 8 p.m.,” he said, adding that this year’s festival will be graced by special guest Walter Ostanek - a three-time Grammy Award winner.
Other acts slated to perform include Fred Ziwich, the Button Box Divas, Anthony Culkar, Frank Stanger, Aaron Dussing, the Western Pennsylvania SNPJ Button Box Club, the Summit Button Boxers, Kathy Hlad, Ron Likovic, Patty C and the Guys, and the Button Box Band of the Year: the Fairport Jammers.
And that’s just who’s going to be performing on stage. Valencic said some of the best music produced at the festival comes out of the jam sessions that arise.
“What really impresses me are the little, impromptu jam sessions that just kind of materialize between musicians,” he said. “It’s really neat to see. A couple of accordion players will just get together over a table or in a corner, maybe under a tree, and just start playing. It’s really a special thing.”
Despite the fact that it takes place in the middle of the week (a necessity, Valencic said, because most of the sausage competitors’ shops are family run and are opened on Saturdays, with Sundays being a traditional day off), the sausage festival is usually well attended, Valencic said, with attendance at last year’s event around 1,400.
Tickets are available in advance at $10 each, with admission at the gate $12.
For more information and to purchase advance tickets, visit the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame & Museum’s website or pay a visit there in person: 605 E. 222nd S., Euclid, next to Euclid City Hall. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.