Simply Slavic, the festival created specifically to celebrate Youngstown’s Slavic community, will take place on Federal Plaza East in Downtown Youngstown. The event will include live music, folk dance performances, homemade food, children’s learning areas, educational exhibits, and ethnic vendors. A full weekend of entertainment and education is planned.
The Simply Slavic Heritage Festival showcases the rich traditions of the Slavic ethnicities present in the Mahoning Valley. The modern-day European nations representing the origins of our region’s Slavic ancestors are Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. In addition, we also have many descendants of Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants present in our area, who are represented at the festival. Individually, each group’s numbers may not seem large, but together, they represent a powerful presence.
Simply Slavic began in 2011 to educate both the region's large number of Slavic descendants and the community-at-large about Slavic heritage. "Simply Slavic has become more than a one day event; it's more like a movement," says Ken Shirilla, former event chairman. “By getting to know each other while working on the festival, Slavic community leaders have discovered various ways in which they can collaborate." Supporting the start and growth of the Slavic Student Association at Youngstown State University is one such project. But this time of year, everyone's efforts are on the big festival.
