Slovenefest starts in Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, 7 July - The 40th Slovenefest gets under way near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Friday in what is the largest annual cultural festival organised by Slovenian Americans. The three-day festivities will include polka band performances, presentations of Slovenian cultural heritage, and a best sausage competition.
The festival is organised by the Slovenian National Benefit Society (S.N.P.J.), an ethnic fraternal benefit and social organization for Slovenian immigrants and their descendants in the US that was founded in 1904 mainly to offer the immigrants health insurance.
Slovenefest takes place in the borough Enon Valley near Pennsylvania's border with Ohio, where in the 1970s the immigrants built a holiday resort.
At first the place was part of North Beaver Township, where a ban on buying alcohol on Sundays was in place at the time. The Slovenian community seceded from the township for several reasons, including to get its own liquor license.
They established a separate borough on 200 hectares called S.N.P.J., which is nowadays one of the least-populated boroughs in Pennsylvania, with a population of 15.
There are many recreation facilities and a cultural venue in the S.N.P.J. borough, which comes alive in summer, especially for Slovenefest.
This year, the festival, which usually includes performances by some 20 polka bands, will again feature a Slovenian food fair.