Trip to Poland

The Toledo Polish Geneaological Society is making a trip to Poland this year. If you are interested in finding your family records, this is the year you must go to Poland. We will be going to towns, villages and cities in Poland to find your family records.

Trip to Poland 2010 info:
http://www.polishtoledo.com/trip

The trip to Poland is being organized this year in September so that people of Polish heritage can find their family roots.

If you ever wanted to know where your Babcia or Dziadzia came from, this is the year you must travel to the land of your ancestors. Please call Kathy Grabel at 419-385-8516 for more information regarding this trip to Poland.

All you have to do is let Kathy know where your relatives came from, the name of the village, town or city, and the family name.

We will travel to those places and your family records will be waiting for you to pick up. And, you will actually see where your relatives once lived.

The departure from Detroit's Metro Airport will be on August 31, 2010, and the return date is September 10th.

The cost for this trip to Poland includes round trip airfare, sightseeing, accommodations at three and four star hotels, meals, transportation in a comfortable tour bus, English speaking tour guides and more. The total cost for the trip is $2,800 that includes everything mentioned above.

Don't miss this opportunity of a lifetime to travel to the land of your ancestors.

Trip to Poland 2010

For more information: [Click Here]

The Blade & Polish Funeral Directors

Bob Driver writes a newspaper column down in Tampa, Florida. His July 11 column lamented that the St. Petersburg Times transfered control of obituaries to the advertising department from the news department like many dailies did in the past few years.

Here's his last paragraph of the column:

I worked three years for the Toledo (Ohio) Blade, a pretty good paper in its time. But like many newspapers (even the good ones) it had lousy management. One of its newsroom policies was that every reporter – even those who had 10 or 20 years experience – had to write obits. At any moment on any working day, a busy reporter might get the command: “Pick up on Line 1 – Dumbrowski’s got four obits.” (For some reason, most of Toledo’s funeral directors were Polish). Needless to say, the Blade had a high rate of turnover among its reporters. Management finally got smart and assigned all the routine obits to one person, a woman who doubled as a receptionist. I was told she did a superb job. I’m sure the Times has obit handlers just as good as she was.

Doda softer than below

To soften the shock of the first video clip in the following post - here is a more kind and gentle version of Doda Elektroda. This from the Sopot Music Fest. Not exactly Woodstock, but where I'd rather be.

Dyngus Alive & Well in Buffalo - Toledo Polonia not so much

You would think that with more than 10% of the Toledo area's population being Polish-American and that we rank 3rd on the ethnicity "hit parade", we'd have a much better showing as far as festivals and events are concerned.

Buffalo Polonia does a great job organizing huge events several times a year. But, Dyngus Day really stands out as a unique Polish-American event that encompasses the entire Buffalo region.

See: DyngusDayBuffalo.com

Listen to the National Public Radio Dyngus Day Report: Click Here

See: Newspaper article with schedule & Dyngus Day Ads




The entire city embraces the Easter Monday theme (which lasts all week)and businesses profit from it. Here, in pretty much boring Toledo, we could take a lesson from the folks in Buffalo. During the week of Smigus-Dyngus even non-ethnic and Irish bars hire polka bands and serve pierogi and other Polish foods. There are dances and other events all over the Buffalo region. Maybe next time will do a better job trying to elect a Toledo Mayor like Keith Wilkowski.

A few years ago I shuffled off to Buffalo just to experience how the whole community pulls together to celebrate Polishness regardless of one's individual ethnic background.



Already preparations are being made for this year's events in Buffalo:

Dyngus Day Buffalo, a grassroots initiative to promote Buffalo-Niagara's Dyngus Day activities, will hold an organizational meeting for all interested parties on Thursday, February 1st at 6:30pm at St. Stanislaus Church on Fillmore Avenue.

This year's Dyngus Day will take place on April 9, 2007 with activities in the Buffalo region continuing through April 15th. To be discussed at the session will be local & national media opportunities, cooperative marketing programs and the organization of Buffalo's first ever Dyngus Day Parade.

Also on the agenda will be remarks by David Lacki, Director of Tourism for the Greater Buffalo Convention & Visitors Bureau. Lacki will discuss the growing cultural and ethnic tourism industry and how, if property marketed, can have a positive economic effect on the entire region.

The Dyngus Day Buffalo meeting is open to the public including all promoters, event organizers, and other interested parties who would like to assist in growing one of North America's most unique ethnic traditions.