Folklorama 2005

Sunday, August 7 - Saturday, August 13

Folklorama 2005 was a great festival, and the Slovenija Pavilion was proud to be part of Folklorama. This year, the Slovenija pavilion celebrated our 35th year as part of Folklorama, and we are very proud of our accomplishment, and we look forward to many more successful festivals!

This year, before our pavilion even opened its front doors, we were very proud to have one of our Ambassadors selected as Folklorama’s ‘Ambassador General for the year 2006’. Bryen Lebar was chosen from amongst all of the Ambassadors to represent Folklorama in 2006, and in part to promote our beautiful Slovenian culture as well. Congratulations Bryen on your success on attaining this tremendous achievement!

After Bryen achievement, we eagerly awaited the opening of our pavilion on Sunday August 7. Sure enough that date did eventually arrive, and after the initial days of set up, we opened our doors to festival fun seekers. People this year were once again not disappointed, in that we had a number of new features at our pavilion:

ˇ Completely new dance and song repertoires from our Rozmarin dance group.
ˇ New dances by all 3 dance groups, courtesy of our workshop in November 2004, conducted by David Antolin from Hamilton.
ˇ An addition to our cultural display, with authentic articles brought to us from Slovenia, which included, among other items, works of wood, Rogaska Crystal, and works of lace.
ˇ A wide variety of Slovenian liquors from the Fructal company, including Domaci Brandy, Jagoda Vodka, Slivovica and more.
ˇ The two best selling beers in Slovenia, Union and Lasko were available.

The planning for Folklorama this year was once again an incredible challenge, however our two co-coordinators, Stephanie Casar and Vera Slejko did an outstanding job of pulling all of the pieces together and putting together a first class pavilion that was enjoyed by all of our guests.

Helping Stephanie and Vera were some hard working people who stepped up and took on a committee head. Our thanks to Kristina Van Buren (Kitchen), Matthew Sobocan (Bar), Kristina Majowski (Entertainment), Bernie Lozar (Barbecue), Darren and Teresa Kozicki (Security), Liz Trueman and Sonia Stubler (Admissions), Kathy Casar and Kristina Majowski (Cultural Display), Irene Lozar and Veronica Thiffeault (Pastry), Mary Sobocan (VIP/Media) and Matthew Sobocan (Finance). An incredible job was done by our Ambassadors as well, Bryen Lebar, Anastasia Bukal, Alexandra Stegne and Sabrina Simonic.

When people come to our pavilion, it is first and foremost for our great food. This year our barbecued pork and chicken were fantastic, and the remainder of our menu, including cevapcici’s had people watering at their mouths.

From a bar perspective, as mentioned above definitely had a Slovenian influence. One could have tried a variety of liquors, beers or wines from Slovenia. Our thanks go out to Matthew for working so hard with Fructal and getting these items into Winnipeg and our thanks to the MLCC who worked with Matthew to facilitate the importing of these products.

While people were enjoying their food and beverages, our entertainment was second to none. All three dance groups had new dances to showcase, and in particular our Rozmarin dance group, under the leadership of Kristina Majowski and Vladka Pikel introduced songs and new dances to this group. It was such a pleasant surprise to hear these young voices singing, and seeing their new dances. Great job Rozmarin on getting a complete new repertoire together for this years festival. Our Zvoncek dancers also showcased new dances, and Triglav was once again entertaining, as they entertained us in true, authentic, Slovenian fashion. And with all the dancing, one can not forget that singing is such a vital component of Slovenian culture, and our Zvon singers add an element to our show that would be sadly missing if they did not perform. From beautiful accopella’s to traditional Slovenia songs from legend Lojzeta Slak, Zvon is still going strong, and we are so glad to have as part of pavilion. To look back at some of the performances from Folklorama 2005 please click on the following links Zvonćek, Rožmarin, Triglav, Zvon . The videos will take approximately 1 minutes to download please be patient.

After dinner and the show, many people stepped up to our famous pastry bar. Everything to satisfy that sweet tooth, including zavitek (Strudel), potica, various cookies and tortes could have been had, and to wash it down, an authentic Slovenian Bela Kava (cappuccino).

The cultural display was added to, including many articles from Slovenia. We also added a ‘Primorska Inland’ section, to highlight the beauty of the inland region of Primorska. Once again, our cultural display was vibrant and busy. One could have certainly learned much about Slovenian culture, and from reading the comments in our guest book, many people did.

Over all, Folklorama 2005 was a huge success, and our thanks go to all our volunteers and to all our guests. Without either one of you, it would be impossible to have a Slovenija pavilion. We are already looking forward to a great festival next year, at Folklorama 2006.

Written by,

Stan Majowski

Canadian Slovenian Cultural Society Inc.

Winnipeg, Canada

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