About the Festival
The Polish Festival in Portland, Oregon is the oldest Polish festival in the western United States. Since 1993, the festival has celebrated Polish culture, traditions, and achievements.
Each year, the Polish Festival features authentic Polish food, live music, folk dance performances, exhibits about Polish culture, activities for children, polka contests, local vendors and a beer garden.
BY THE NUMBERS
12,000
Number of festival attendees last year
75
Number of Polka Contest dancers last year
10,000
Number of pierogi eaten last year
PORTLAND'S POLISH COMMUNITY
HISTORY
Oregon's first Polish families immigrated primarily from the Carpathian Mountain region of southeastern Poland. Upon arriving to Oregon, they created a Polish National Alliance chapter in 1892 in North Portland and found employment in local lumbermills and shipyards.
They established St. Stanislaus Church in 1907 and the Polish Hall in 1911 on N. Interstate Avenue. Both buildings feature architecture commonly found in southern Poland.
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Waves of Polish immigrants arrived over the next 100 years, organizing cultural events, establishing a Polish language school and starting the Polish Festival in 1993. It has grown to be the largest Polish festival in the western United States.
POLISH PARISH
St. Stanislaus Church is the only Polish Catholic church in Oregon. It was founded in 1907, built by Polish immigrants living in North Portland.
The parish's namesake is St. Stanislaus Szczepanowski, who was the archbishop of Krakow in the 11th Century and the patron saint of Poland.
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St. Stanislaus offers mass in Polish, English and Croatian.
