Ukrainian Village Festival Sept 9-10. Celebrate Ukrainian culture with music, dance, ethnic food, sports competitions, crafts and family-friendly activities
When: September 9-10, 2017, 1PM-10PM both days
Where: Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Parish 2245 W. Superopr St.
Admission: $5 donation
Festival street is “lined with both merchant and food vendors”. Dance and Music lineup here. The fest will host a kids area during the day featuring rides, organized games and a play area. Features Ukrainian beer, food, dance and music. Fun for the whole family.
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Ukrainian’s in Chicago Encyclopedia of Chicago (redacted)
According to the 2000 census, there are 45,036 residents of the Chicago metropolitan area who consider themselves to be Ukrainian. Most trace their ancestry back to one of four waves of immigration from what is now western Ukraine and eastern Poland.
First wave of immigration
The first wave of Ukrainian immigration began in the 1880s and lasted until 1914. It originated among impoverished peasants from regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which came under Austrian rule by the late eighteenth century
Many immigrants found themselves excluded from the Roman Catholic Church in the US and joined the Russian Orthodox Church, which sought to reconvert Uniates. Their descendants gradually began to identify themselves as Russians.
Some joined either the Blessed Mother of God parish, Chicago’s first Greek Catholic parish, founded in 1902, or St. Nicholas Greek Catholic Church (later called St. Nicholas Greek Catholic Church), which was founded in 1905.
Soon St. Nicholas Greek Catholic Church became the center of a Ukrainian neighborhood surrounding the 2300 and 2400 blocks of Chicago Avenue, which has since become known as Ukrainian Village.
Second wave of immigration
A second wave of immigration began after the Austrian empire’s collapse in 1867. By 1930, there were approximately 25,000 to 30,000 Ukrainians in Chicago.
Third wave of immigration
A third wave of immigration began after World War II. This brought an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 wartime refugees from the former Galician-Subcarpathian region, most of which was annexed to Soviet Ukraine in 1939.
The civic organizations founded or managed by members of this third wave began to dominate community life in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood.
By the late seventies, Chicago was home to the US’s largest, most concentrated and best organized Ukrainian community.
Fourth wave of immigration
A fourth wave of immigration began in the late eighties and originated in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine. Some of these immigrants have integrated into the existing Ukrainian community and have joined churches and civic organizations.
Current status
With almost 14,000 Ukrainian’s located within city limits and more than 45,000 living within the greater Chicago metropolitan area in 2000, Ukrainian Americans have dispersed moving further from the West Town neighborhood.
By 1990 just under 2,500 Ukrainian were living in West Town as the area became predominantly Latin American since 1980.
