Slovenian Days 2022 wrap up in Cleveland area
Cleveland, 6 October - This year's Slovenian Days in Cleveland, a series of events dedicated to Slovenian culture in the Cleveland area in Ohio, US, wrapped up in Chagrin Falls this week with a film screening. Most of the events took place in Cleveland, home to the largest Slovenian community in the US.
In addition to cultural events, Slovenian Days in Cleveland also featured culinary events. They were organised by Slovenia's Consulate General in Cleveland with the support of partners and under the auspices of Consul General Alenka Jerak.
Running from 21 September to 4 October, the festival was opened by Jerak and Mike Polensek, a Cleveland City Council member of Slovenian descent.
The main focus of the nine events was the presentation of Slovenian culture in the fields of choral music, film, sculpture and cuisine.
Megaron, an award-winning chamber choir from Ljubljana, gave two concerts - once for a wider American audience at the Cleveland Cathedral and the second time at the Slovenian Church in Collinwood, a neighbourhood of Cleveland. Megaron then continued their American tour in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.
The Slovenian Museum and Archives in Cleveland organised an exhibition of works by Lučka Koščak, a Slovenian sculptor from Switzerland who died last year.
The events also included cooking classes dedicated to Slovenian cuisine, a festival of typical Slovenian grape harvest, and two film screenings. The first film was about Cleveland-style polka, a once popular music genre in the US that originated from Slovenian polka, and the second about the natural wonders of the Posočje area in western Slovenia.