For almost eighty years, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Polish Hill held a festival in mid-July. On Friday night, the intersection of Brereton and Dobson streets would be closed, and tents and tables set up. The church festival, which attracts members of the IHM parish, both current and former residents, features games of chance, Polish food, a rummage sale, and a polka band.
Noticing that the street barriers and festival tents remained in place all weekend, the Polish Hill Civic Association saw an opportunity to start a new tradition, and decided to put on an arts festival. During the first arts festival in July of 2008, a fierce storm hit, soaking vendors and attendees. But under the big tent, the bands kept playing, the sun eventually came out again, and the festival was counted as a rousing success. In its second year, the arts festival saw greater neighborhood participation and the addition of arts activities for all ages.
This year brings the third Polish Hill Arts Festival, and the neighborhood’s festival weekend continues to grow. Music will play a larger role: Project 53, a musician’s resource center located in Polish Hill, received a Sprout grant to present a Free 4 All, a two-day music festival which will include workshops and musical performances at multiple locations.
The arts festival, on Sunday July 18, will offer art-making activities for all ages and there will be artists and craftspeople selling their work. The vendors range from nuns to punks, there’ll be Brazillian drumming, a Slavic-tinged marching band, a laser harp, pierogies and kielbasa, Italian ices, oh, lots of stuff. There will be hands-on art activities from the Andy Warhol Museum, the Mattress Factory, Carley Parrish, and Matt Mets. Members of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church will be selling Polish and American food; there will also be vendors selling ices and sweets. Polish Hill’s newest businesses will be open: a record store, a comic book shop, a gift shop; the new coffee shop will host The New Yinzer presents… Special Edition. And a film element will be introduced, with the Post Apocalyptic Movie Theater in the back room of Gooski’s bar.
The growth of Polish Hill’s festivals reflects the re-growth of the neighborhood itself. For decades, Polish Hill was, as the name implies, mostly the home of the descendents of the Polish immigrants who came to work in the steel mills. In the 60’s and 70’s, the neighborhood emptied out as residents left for the outlying suburbs, choosing better schools for their kids over the old neighborhood. Now, Polish Hill’s population is about a third of what it was forty years ago, but after years of decline, the neighborhood has been rediscovered. Perhaps half of our population is still of Polish descent; but the other half are a very diverse group. The mixture of people gives Polish Hill a distinct flavor. There are a lot of artists and other creative people in Polish Hill, and this year more of them will be involved in the festival. We hope that you will join us!
July 17 Immaculate Heart of Mary Church Festival
Free4All Music Festival
July 18 Polish Hill Arts Festival 12-8 pm
Free4All Music Festival
Parking and access information
The arts festival takes place at the intersection of Brereton and Dobson streets in Polish Hill. This is the main intersection in Polish Hill and it will be closed all day. There will be no thru traffic on Brereton, and no vehicles will be permitted in the festival area between 11:30 am and 8:30 pm. This is a safety measure—the festival area will be crowded with tents and people.
Getting to Polish Hill
From Bloomfield and Lawrenceville: go over the Herron Bridge and up Herron Avenue; park at the gravel lot in the S-curve of Herron Avenue
From Downtown and the Strip: At Liberty and 28th, go up the hill and cross the 28th Street Bridge; park on Brereton near 30th Street or turn right on 30th Street and immediately, another right into the driveway for West Penn Recreation center. The recreation center has two parking lots, one behind the other. If the front lot right outside the building is full, continue thru to the back lot.
From Bigelow Boulevard: Turn down Herron Ave into Polish Hill. There is a gravel lot on the S-curve of Herron Avenue, past Dobson Street. You may also be able to find street parking.
Buses to Polish Hill
Alternating 54C buses go through Polish Hill–make sure the one you catch says Polish Hill, not Penn and Main. This bus will be diverted by a couple of blocks due to the street closing, but it’s still the closest bus to our location.
The East Busway stops right at the base of Polish Hill. When exiting the busway, you will be on the S-curve of Herron Avenue. Turn right and go up Herron, skip the first set of very long steps and walk up to the second set of shorter stairs (next to the Witamy Do Polish Hill sign). The stairs lead up to Dobson Street. Turn right on Dobson; the festival is one block up, in front of the church.
Any of the buses that go along Liberty between Lawrenceville and Downtown will take you to 28th Street; get off there and walk up the hill, across the 28th Street Bridge, and go left up Brereton.
Parking
Polish Hill is a small city neighborhood with limited street parking that is mostly in use by residents. You may find street parking next to the festival, but more likely you will need to park in one of the suggested spots a few blocks away, and walk over to Brereton and Dobson. If you are bringing elderly or disabled visitors, they may be dropped off at the festival location, but you will need to park elsewhere.
Suggested parking locations:
–Along Brereton Street between the 28th Street Bridge to 30th Street. (Distance to festival site: 2 blocks)
–West Penn Recreation Center: the entrance to parking lot is on 30th Street, above the park. (Distance to festival site: 2 blocks)
–Halfway up the Herron Avenue S-curve, just up from the Herron Bridge, there’s a gravel parking lot. Walk up Herron to Dobson, turn right and walk up to the festival (distance: 3 blocks)