Bay Area's Ukrainian community celebrates Ukrainian Day (09/10/06)

THE 15th ANNIVERSARY OF UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE

Bay Area's Ukrainian community celebrates Ukrainian Day

by Nestor Wolansky

SAN FRANCISCO - As in previous years, Ukrainian Day, this year celebrating Ukraine's 15th anniversary of independence, took place in the San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on August 27. The popular event was held in San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum, while the Music Concourse, where concerts usually are staged, is under renovation.

The lively crowd of some 350 to 400 people ignored the inconvenience of standing room only at the Botanical Garden, and displayed nothing but unbounded enthusiasm - and those were just the visiting tourists, who watched the free performance in near disbelief as the nimble young dancers moved with precision and ease. The Ukrainian Americans in the audience were simply ecstatic. An unusually large number of small children, sitting in the front rows with their parents, waved Ukrainian flags and were very attentive, clapping and cheering the performance.

After the singing of the national anthems of Ukraine and the United States, led by the program director and mezzo-soprano, Maria Tscherepenko, the Volya Dance Ensemble from Edmonton, under the direction of Zhenia Bahri, greeted the audience with the traditional Ukrainian offering of bread and salt.

A tribute to the tragic events of September 11, 2001, was made by the Bay Area's leading Ukrainian activist, Zenon Zubrycky. The vivacious Olena Bolshakoff, no stranger to Ukrainian Days of the past years, sang two lovely Ukrainian folk songs, followed by Volya performing the "Kozachok."

Ivanna Taratula-Filipenko, the mezzo-soprano soloist from the Lviv Opera House, teamed up with Juliana Filipenko, her daughter, in a medley of Ukrainian folk songs. The Volya Ensemble returned with a very artistically performed dance from the Volyn region of Ukraine. Ms. Tscherepenko sang two more songs, titled "Ukraine, Ukraine" and "The Dark-Haired Gypsy."

The Ukrainian Day event continued with a short speech by Mykola Tochynskyj, consul general of Ukraine in San Francisco, who greeted the audience warmly, reiterating Ukraine's commitment to democracy.

The 124-year-old Golden Gate Park Band, the oldest municipal band in the country, under the direction of the venerable Michael Wirgler, played a traditional Ukrainian folk song suite. In a joke, repeated every year, Mr. Wirgler denied that any members of the band were 124 years old, to the delight of the crowd.

Ola Herasymenko, merited artist of Ukraine, performed an instrumental suite on the Ukrainian national instrument, the bandura. It should be noted that Ms. Herasymenko comes from a distinguished bandura-performing family. Next, the charming Sonechko Children's Dance Ensemble from Sacramento entertained everyone with youthful dancing, as they have in previous years.

And, finally, the Volya Ensemble took the stage once again, with a Ukrainian gypsy folk dance, and the finale, the signature dance of many Ukrainian dance groups, the eagerly awaited Hopak.

Following the closing ceremonies, the exuberant crowd was in no hurry to disperse, as people chatted with friends, or took more snapshots and savored a memorable afternoon. Already there was talk about next year and who might come to perform.

The Ukrainian Day event was sponsored this year by: Ukrainian American Coordinating Council, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Heritage Club of Northern California, Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Church, St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Church, St. Volodymyr Mission (Santa Clara), the Ukrainian Fraternal Association Assembly 270, Ukrainian National Association Branch 486, Ukrainian National Women's League of America Chapter 107, the Ukrainian Medical Association of Northern California and the Ukrainian Professional and Business Group of Northern California.

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