Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Buffalo Embraces the Quirky Traditions of Dyngus Day

BUFFALO, NY -- Dyngus Day in Buffalo, Perhaps in no place embraces the quirky holiday quite like the queen city.  At the core of that celebration is the annual Dyngus Day parade, now in its tenth year.

“We come down here ever year.  We missed a couple of people this year, Bobby D. and his wife are not here today, but we’re down here every year for Dyngus Day.”

And while the low temperatures may have kept a few spectators away, the Broadway-Fillmore area was it’s typical crowded, noisy, and energetic self for the yearly event.  Parade goes had plenty to talk about:

“It’s the first day I’ve ever celebrated it and I’ve got to say that Polish people are pretty fun, pretty crazy.”

“Especially right here we’ve got a lot of Polish people around here, we’ve got Sobieski, the Broadway Market, everything else.  It’s tradition.”

Tradition, just like pussy willows and squirt guns.  At Polish Falcons Nest 6 in Cheektowaga where the party rolls on into the night, music, food, and plenty of krupnik flows freely despite a shortage of the beverage that put a scare into the celebrating populace.  The main reason Dyngus Day brings out scores of Buffalonians and Western New Yorkers every year seems to be something a little more universal: each other.

“Dyngas Day in Buffalo is all the Polish people, all the friends, all the neighbors," says Gary Sieczkarek, who runs Nest 6.  "It’s like having an Easter dinner or an Easter breakfast that you have on Easter.  The whole family gets together.”

“It’s everybody getting together.  Friends, family," Tami Kries added.

And yes, a little mischievousness.

“In Poland, it’s more of a kids holiday so I guess in a way it brings out the kid in all of us.”

(© 2016 WGRZ)

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