Coal Region culture front and center at Walk In Center Folk Fest

Oct. 9—SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — From the "Beer Barrel Polka" to Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs, the region's culture was celebrated Saturday at the Walk In Art Center.

The Folk Fest, sponsored by the Folk Art Alliance, featured a wide variety of artistic and cultural activities that define the rich heritage of Schuylkill, Berks and Lancaster counties.

From Keith Brintzenhoff's renditions of Pennsylvania Dutch folk music on the autoharp and dulcimer to the traditional Gaelic and Celtic stepping of the Sabo Irish Dance Troupe, the region's heritage was center stage from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Jenna Winton, folklorist, said the roots of the region's contemporary culture lie in the wave of immigrants that came to the Coal Region in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

"So many immigrants came here to seek religious freedom," Winton said. "They left a rich cultural heritage."

By celebrating the culture at events like the Folk Fest, she said, "the hope is to preserve it for future generations."

Nippy temperatures and an energetic north wind put a bit of a damper on outside activities early on in the day.

Polish artist Peter Cieslukauski sat at his stand wearing ear muffs and a scarf before moving inside the art center.

"The Polish Star Man," as he calls himself, fashions 80-point stars from folded paper, an Eastern European form of origami.

"I remember the nuns at St. Casimir's School in Shenandoah making these Polish stars," said Cieslukauski, 60, who studied art at the University of Krakow in Poland.

Shirley Ravitz displayed her personal collection of Jewish religious items.

Among them was a megillah, a religious scroll in an olive wood box made in Jerusalem.

Ravitz, who was born in Israel, said the parchment inside the box tells the story of Esther, the heroine of the Purim story. It's read on the annual holiday of Purim, which was celebrated on March 16 and 17 this year.

A retired speech therapist, Ravitz is a member of Oheb Zedeck Synagogue Center in Pottsville.

Personal appearances were made by Schuylkill County Fair Queen Faith Yeager, Princess Lila Evans and Little Miss Ariana Eifert.

Among the acts performing were the Shenandoah All-Star Polka Band, fiddler Paul Riffon and musician Dave Matsinko.

Artists and crafters demonstrated their skills throughout the day inside the art center's new education center.

Included were weaving, iconography, Ukrainian sunflower painting and pottery making by Debbie Gilbert, a Schuylkill Haven potter.

Children painted their own hex signs, also called barn stars, which appear on barns throughout the Pennsylvania Dutch farming region.

Sherre Yurenko and her mother, Pearl Dewald Yurenko, revisited the family's Pennsylvania Dutch heritage by creating a hex sign Christmas ornament.

Sherre Yurenko lived most of her adult life in California, where she was a nurse, but recently returned to the Orwigsburg area.

"I grew up here, and the culture stayed with me," she said, coloring an image of a Pennsylvania Dutch distelfink. "I've done some research, and my mother's ancestry dates to the 1400s in Germany."

The music, folk art exhibits and demonstrations were complimentary, as was a variety of ethnic food — including pierogi, halushki, kielbasa and Jewish apple cake.

Contact the writer: rdevlin@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6007