Polish Event Mixes Polkas, Pride, Cabbage

Gorging on kielbasa and toe-tapping to a lively accordion, nearly 150 people gathered at a Camarillo park Sunday afternoon for the Polish Eagle Lodge’s annual picnic.

For the last decade, lodge members have sponsored the event to draw attention to their Polish heritage and bring together other local Poles.

Sunday’s picnic was no exception.

Red-and-white Polish flags waved near the gathering’s entrance. The smell of sauerkraut, kielbasa and golabkis (stuffed cabbage) wafted through the park.

And lodge members and their guests took turns on the dance floor, whirling to a polka or tapping to the three-beat rhythm of an oberek, a native dance.

“We’ve eaten, we’ve drank, we’ve danced--not bad for a Sunday afternoon,” said Lompoc resident Sonja Swartz, who came to the picnic with her husband, Jim.

Although they are not members of the local lodge, the Swartzes heard about the picnic through their church.

Proudly wearing a red T-shirt emblazoned with a Polish flag, Jim Swartz explained his interest in meeting a group of strangers for an afternoon.

“It’s heritage, whether you’re Italian American or Polish American,” he said.

Sitting in the shade, lodge president Rose Zachowski of Oxnard said the organization was founded about 100 years ago as a way of uniting Polish immigrants.

In addition to the annual picnic, the organization sponsors a Polish dinner to raise money for charity. The lodge also sponsors a student at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo.

But the picnic remains an event geared as much toward fun as anything else.

In addition to jumping in the traditional potato-sack races, children eagerly hoarded raffle tickets in hopes of walking away with the afternoon’s most popular door prize: Polish Barbie, the classic doll dressed in ethnic costume and long blond braids.

As the day wore on, Zachowski encouraged visitors to load up on seconds of the vast quantities of food. Asked to single out her favorite native dish from Poland, Zachowski stopped to ponder.

“Where do I start?” she said. “I like them all.”