FESTIVALS & EVENTS : Reap Fruits of Dozynki Harvest

Even if the only things growing in your garden are dandelions and anthills, you can still participate in an old-fashioned Dozynki harvest festival Saturday and Sunday at the Pope John Paul II Polish Center in Yorba Linda.

In the European tradition, people wearing colorful costumes and silk-flower wreaths will carry farm tools and baskets of the earth’s bounty in a harvest processional beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. The “farm folk” (you included) will break shepherd bread together and toast the lady and lord of the manor.

If toasting is more akin to your leisure-time activities than harvesting, you’ll be happy to know that ample cases of piwo (dark, heavy Polish beer), as well as domestic beer, wine and soft drinks, will be available at the two-day festival.

If toasting while feasting on authentic Polish fare is your idea of heaven, you’ll appreciate the homemade kielbasa (sausage), pirogi (Polish ravioli), glumki (cabbage leaves wrapped around meat and rice), kapusta (sauerkraut) and bigos (hunter’s stew) served by the center’s volunteers. You can finish off your meal with home-baked packi (jelly-filled pastry), cheesecake, poppy-seed cake or babka.

Stand back and watch the folk dancers swirl their stuff, or take your spot on the dance floor when Roger and the Villagers, the best-known polka band in the area, perform everything from mazurkas to country music, from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday.

On display throughout the weekend will be cultural exhibits, and for sale (to benefit the Polish Center) will be cookbooks, cards, cassettes and gift items.

In between watching the cultural programs and toasting and feasting, you might even pick up a gardening tip or two. But don’t worry if you don’t; you’ll still be invited back to next year’s harvest festival.

What: 14th annual Dozynki Harvest Festival.

When: Saturday, Sept. 19, 5 to 11 p.m.; Sunday, Sept. 20, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Where: Pope John Paul II Polish Center, 3999 Rose Drive, Yorba Linda.

Whereabouts: Take the Orange Freeway (57) to Imperial Highway exit; head east. Go to Rose Drive; turn right. Or take the Riverside Freeway (91) to Imperial Highway exit; head west to Rose Drive; turn left. The center is on the right side of the street.

Wherewithal: Admission to the festival grounds is free. A $5 donation is requested Saturday night for dancing. Food and beverage coupons sell for 25 cents. Dinners cost about $6.

Where to Call: (714) 996-8161.