Pierogi Love

Pierogi Fest's Parade - Look at those fabulous costumes!

My friend Katie and I have been talking about going to Pierogi Fest together for years. Katie is from nearby Whiting, Indiana and always extolled the humor and tastiness of the festival. This year it finally happened and I was a happy lass. The 17th annual fest was expected to draw over 200,000 visitors (a pretty decent sized crowd!) and the city of Whiting was primed to welcome them.

The 3-day festival kicked off Friday evening with a parade. One like I've never seen before! There were fantastic costumes (men, women and even dogs donned babushkas), floats, candy and music (bag pipers are always welcome in any parade right?!) It truly was an display of pride in the city and the pierogi itself. We had prime viewing of the parade as we stood in line waiting for our warm pierogi in a variety of flavors - sauerkraut, cheddar and onion, sweet cheese, meat, mushroom and even chorizo. I also purchased a huge tin mug for a bargain $10 that I could fill up with any number of homemade sodas for the entirety of the 3-day festival (sarsaparilla was my favorite). We ended our feasting by splitting, get this, fried Coke! Little droplets of coke were fried and layered with whipped cream and Coca Cola - very intriguing indeed.

With rides, the delicious Polish food (we also sampled potato pancakes and a few other traditional dishes), and live polka music what more could a girl ask for?