Buffalo Rising Online

Apr 7th 2007, 1:46pm By Nicole Schuman

WHERE: Buffalo Central Terminal, 495 Paderewski Drive, Buffalo, N.Y.

For almost 50 years Buffalo gals have snapped off pussywillow branches in hopes of ‘smacking’ a young suitor, while Buffalo men have loaded plastic pistols with water, armed and ready to ‘haul in’ a young maiden. This year the tradition continues where it left off 20 years ago, at the Buffalo Central Terminal.

On Monday, April 9 from 5 p.m. until the late evening, the Terminal will welcome enthusiasts young and old to celebrate Polish tradition on Buffalo’s East Side. The Terminal was chosen as a site for the party partially because of the success it has had with events in the past year such as Buffalo Brewfest and the Halloween Bash, as well as because of the will of Terminal directors such as Russell Pawlek, to promote an extension of their roots on local soil.

For $8 a person (or free with proof of entry at another Dyngus Day venue) the Terminal, will provide guests with Polka music from Those Idiots and others as well as ethnic dancers and Polka lessons. Participants can feast on Polish sausage, pierogis and other delicacies from several area restaurants including Ulrich’s Tavern, The K Sisters and Bistro Europa, Polish pilsners from Flying Bison Brewery and other various beverages will also be available to wet the palate of the celebrants. And speaking of wet, squirt guns and pussywillows will be available and their usage is encouraged.

The Polish have celebrated Dyngus Day in the Polonia neighborhood since the arrival of the first immigrants in the 1970s, but the first modern day celebration began in Buffalo in 1961 with the Chopins singing Society, a group who has continued its party through the present day at the Hearthstone Manor in Cheektowaga. The day celebrates the end of the restrictive Lenten season and the birth of Spring and renewal. Dyngus Day in Buffalo has grown to one of the largest Polish-American festivals in North America, right up there with Chicago and Toronto.

Dyngus Day at the Terminal is an extension of Dyngus Day Buffalo, a grassroots initiative promoting the holiday, where over 20 venues will be participating around Western New York. Dyngus Day Buffalo also created the idea of a parade, which will weave through the East Side Terminal District, departing from the Broadway Market at 4 p.m. and ending at the Terminal at 5 p.m. The parade will bring an awareness, much like the St. Patrick’s Day and Old First Ward parades, of an ethnic bond, not only in Buffalo, but nationally as well. The group hopes the day will boost tourism to the area, much like Groundhog Day in Punxatony, Penn. or St. Patrick’s Day in Boston, Mass.

For more information on the festivities please contact the Central Terminal at 716-954-2225 or visit dyngusdaybuffalo.com.