Younger generation out for Dyngus Day

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Western New York's Polish community is letting loose after the Lenten season with their pussy willows and squirt guns in hand.

The Dyngus Day parade marched in Monday night. The festivities in Buffalo started with the cutting of the kielbasa and the competition for who will have the bragging rights for the best home-cooked and commercial product. The judges had their work cut out.

WBEN news director Steve Cichon said, "I don't know how I'm going to get through 15. This is already the best. I don't know what I'm going to do here."

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz added, "I've got a lot of Polish blood running through me. It's just remembering the heritage and what the Polish people have brought to this community."

Dyngus Day dates back about a thousand years, but in Buffalo it began being celebrated about 51 years ago, and in the last six years has grown to be one of the biggest ethnic festivals in the northeast.

Eddy Dobosiwicz, who helps orchestrate the Buffalo festival, explained, "Dyngus Day is kind of like Fat Tuesday except it's the celebration the day after Lent as opposed to the day before Lent, like Fat Tuesday."

At R&L Lounge on Buffalo's east side, Lottie Pikuzinski has been packing crowds in for years. She and her husband Ron have one of the last mom and pop taverns on the east side. Their hearts are deeply routed in Polonia, family and friends.

"My children grew up here and all of my good memories are here, and you know, look at all the friends I have that come to visit me," smiled Pikuzinski.

Bryan McQuaid, who came up from Pittsburgh for the celebration, said, "I come because my good buddy Mark told me this is the best party in Buffalo, that I just had to stop by."

All over the east side you could smell the aroma of kielbasa, and see bunches of pussy willows just waiting to be swatted. It's all part of the tradition.

Marty Biniasz, who also helps conduct the Buffalo festival, explained, "Well you go up to somebody and tap them if you like them, and normally you wouldn't do that. Any other time of the year you would go to jail, but on Dyngus Day tapping somebody and squirting with water is ok."

There were a lot of young faces at the parade and for all the events Monday, and that's one goal of the organizers, to get a new generation involved in Polish culture.