Representatives of Dyngus Day Buffalo and the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation have created a living reminder of the city’s Polish-American heritage in front of the Central Terminal. The groups planted live pussy willows on March 27 in a grassy area on Memorial Drive at Paderewski Drive in order to prepare for the festivities of Dyngus Day 2010.
This area has been named “Pussy Willow Park,” and will feature a Dyngus Day Party tent on April 5, the day of the festival celebrating the end of the Lenten season. Dyngus Day Buffalo sponsored the planting and coordinates more than 30 festival sites in the city. The Pussy Willow Park site is at the end of the parade route and adjacent to three established, popular festival sites: Polonia Hall, the Central Terminal, and Arty’s Polish Grill.
According to Marty Biniasz, one of the co-founders of Dyngus Day Buffalo, the group created this new site to keep up with the holiday’s increasing popularity and meet the demand since many existing ones in the Polonia District have exceeded their capacity. He said that Pussy Willow Park will be the festival grounds’ “epicenter of the whole Dyngus Day experience.”
“The creation of Pussy Willow Park is another step forward in developing Dyngus Day into an internationally recognized festival,” he said.
Biniasz also said that Dyngus Day Buffalo will continue to plant these pussy willows in their current location year after year, especially given that the 50th anniversary of the first modern Dyngus Day celebration in Buffalo is next year. The group will harvest whatever pussy willows have grown in the park at that time.
“[We have] started to plant pussy willows and we’re going to continue year in and year out until we have a big pussy willow grove,” Biniasz said. “We anticipate a pretty healthy harvest by 2011.”
Biniasz emphasized that Dyngus Day will be held in traditional locations: Central Terminal, Polonia Hall, Corpus Christi Church, St. Stanislaus Church, and Polish-owned taverns throughout the neighborhood. However, regardless of where festivalgoers choose to go, they are sure to have fun. Buffalo boasts the largest Dyngus Day celebration out of any city in the United States and even in Poland, according to Biniasz.
“We’re all very excited because we’re preparing for Dyngus Day this year,” Biniasz said. “It’s a very joyous day because it’s another day closer to the biggest Dyngus Day celebration in the world…Buffalo is the Dyngus Day capital of the world.”
For more information about this event or Dyngus Day in general, visit Dyngus Day Buffalo or contact Marty via email.