Dyngus Day is here again. For those that celebrate, it is always the day after Easter Sunday here in Buffalo, and so always a Dyngus Day Monday. Christ has risen again. Lent is once again over. Just a spectacular sunny spring day beckons the largest Dyngus Day parade on the planet with temperatures around the fifty degree area. The clock at Corpus Christi Church strikes five o’clock in the afternoon.
And Marty Biniasz and Eddy Dobosiewicz (also known as Airborne Eddy as well as Off Beat Cinema’s Maxwell Truth), the leaders of the Dyngus Day Buffalo movement in Buffalo, lead the cavalcade down Clark Street toward the infamous Superman’s Corner. And the parade that some predict will someday rival Buffalo’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is under way.
Superman Corner. There have been many heroes in Buffalo. Some of them have secret identities.
The red and white that you see represents the Polish flag. Not only did I see outfits and ensembles in a sea of red along the parade route, but also cars, trucks, poodles, tambourines, Myron’s guitar, necklaces, water pistols, shorts and red suede shoes. I even caught a few “I want to rock n roll all night and polka every day” buttons.
The return of Captain Dyngus
It was great to see so many floats out there! The Central Terminal Restoration Corporation, the people that put on those wonderful events at the Central Train Terminal (more about the post-Dyngus Day Parade gathering there on an upcoming post) had a float, as did Broadway Fillmore Alive who helped publicize the Seven Churches in one Night on Buffalo’s East Side event this past Thursday.
To travel to and from all of the venues, one could board the Sobieski Vodka Shuttle, as long as one purchased a Pussy Willow Pass. Some are even starting to call the shuttle ‘The Drunk Bus’. There were three separate routes, going as far as Cheekto-vegas, Black Rock and the Polonia districts. The shuttle encourages people to not drink and drive. But if someone happened to drive to the parade, then there was Liberty Cab Company offering free rides home – please tip the driver! Of course, no surprise that the cabs are red and white!
Myron Deputat (band leader, lead singer, guitarist) conducting Those Idiots on the Dyngusmobile as the Central Train Terminal approaches
For more on what happened next, please see the upcoming post about the Dyngus Day post-parade party at the Central Train Terminal.