The event was held at The Foundry which is located on the historic site of St. Mary's on the Flats Church, the first Catholic Church in the City of Cleveland. From 1873 to 1879, Polish masses were held under the patronage of St. Stanislaus.
Watch a quick video of the site of St Mary's on the Flats.
The event began with a performance by the PIAST Polish Folk and Dance Ensemble. MC Gary Kotlarsic introduced the young people in traditional Polish costumes who performed several songs and dances including the Hejnal Mariaki on trumpet. Watch a video of the PIAST performance.
Gary Kotlarsic
PIAST Polish Folk and Dance Ensemble
There was an informative presentation from Doug Kuzak, an Historical Interpreter at the Cleveland Metroparks.
Doug Kuzak
Doug spoke about the history of the land and how St Mary's on the Flats became the first Catholic Church in the city of Cleveland. It's an interesting story. Doug referenced the book A history of Catholicity in northern Ohio and the diocese of Cleveland from 1749 to December 31, 1900 which is available as a free download here.
The next presentation was from Krystal Sierra from Slavic Village Development who spoke about some of the proposed options to connect Slavic Village with downtown, the lake, the Towpath and other areas.
Krystal Sierra from Slavic Village Development
Ian Marks, Business Manager of The Foundry then gave some information about the organization.
Ian Marks, Business Manager of The Foundry
The Foundry is a local non-profit organization whose mission is to transform the lives of Cleveland’s youth through access to the sports of rowing and sailing. Through the Row. Sail. Dream. program, the Foundry provides introductory rowing and sailing programming to all 6th-12th grade students from public school districts across the County, at no cost to financially qualifying households.
The Foundry is right on the banks of the Cuyahoga River and we were able to watch the 635' Sam Laud Ship maneuver the crooked Cuyahoga River.
The final speaker was Polish Olympian Wieslaw Kudja. Wieslaw competed for Poland in two rowing events at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Because of the 1980 boycott and the subsequent boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, he did not get to compete in the Olympics again. In 1985 he moved to the US and became a rowing coach. He was involved with the US Olympic Rowing Team in 1988 but as a coach/teacher. He did not compete at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 but went on to become a renowned rowing coach for Stanford and other schools and organizations.
Wieslaw Kudja
Dan Hanson and Wieslaw Kudja
Then, attendees could participate in a free introductory rowing lesson conducted by certified coaches and volunteers of The Foundry. Participants learned the basics of rowing using the Erg exercise machine and received instruction on fundamental rowing
skills in their state-of-the-art indoor rowing tank.
Throughout the day there were historic displays of Polish history in Cleveland from Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Slavic Village Historical Society, the Polish American Cultural Center JPII and more.
Displays of Polish history in Cleveland
It was a fun and informative day in a somewhat unfamiliar area of the city of Cleveland.
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