GES Open House

The GES Coalition works with residents in the Globeville, Elyria and Swansea neighborhoods on issues that impact these communities. This meeting will be held at the Globeville Recreation Center at 4496 Grant Street from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm. This looks like a lot of information to cram in an hour and a half period, and the meeting ends before a lot of working folks can make it.

But these meetings usually have a moderator to keep thing moving, so you might pick the one project that affects you the most - like construction on Washington Street or the 44th Avenue Pedestrian improvements. (Are there sidewalks on 44th Avenue now?)

Take notes and ask questions.

 

Two Festivals to Celebrate in Globeville

Holy Rosary Bazaar, Sunday, August 18th from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Church festivals are the BEST! And those in Globeville won't disappoint you. Holy Rosary will hold its parish bazaar on Sunday, August 18th from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm in the church parking lot and the space in front of the rectory. It's a tradition that dates to 1919 when the working class Slovenians and Croatians were trying to raise money to build their own church (a half a block away from St Joseph's Polish Church).

The first festival lasted four days and included plays, concerts, and an auction of livestock. The 2024 bazaar will feature enchiladas, soft tacos, gorditas, chilidrinas, hamburgers,hot dogs and Italian sausage sandwiches. There will be some Potica and pizzelles for sale at the Homecoming booth, (where you can find out about our Homecoming event in October).

A clown will amuse the kiddos, while the Heritage Irish Step Dancers, Aztec Dancers, Atravesados de la Sierra, and the amazing Banda "La Patrona" will get you moving. There will be crafts, and religious articles for sale, and a silent auction of gift baskets, too. Top it off with Karoke! 

Check our website:https:holyrosarydenver.org

or our facebook page: https://facebook.com/HolyRosaryChurchDenver

Lots of food choices!

A small selection of Potica

Banda La Patrona

St. Joseph's Polish Roman Catholic Church

One half block away from Holy Rosary Church is St. Joseph's Polish Church, whose red spire is visible from I-70. Dedicated in 1902, the parish has always had a Polish-speaking pastor and is a center of Polish faith and culture. Immerse yourself in all things Polish at the festival on Saturday August 24th, from noon to 9:00 pm, and Sunday, August 25th from noon to 5:00 pm.

Enjoy robust Polish craft beers, kielbasa, potato pancakes, cabbage rolls, pierogi, sauerkraut, and pastries.  Powisle, singers and dancers from Poland, and Krakowiacy Polish Dancers will perform traditional dances, the Amber Band and DJ SKI will provide dance music. Check out the Polish crafts and gifts. This is one festival you don't want to miss!

facebook.com/polishfoodfestival/

Krakowiacy Polish Dancers

It's the real deal - Pierogi

Polish guys admiring Polish sausage

Get off I-70 at Washington Street, head west on 47th Avenue

St Michael's Chapel Riverside Cemetery

Founded in 1876, Riverside Cemetery is the resting place of many of Denver's pioneers, as well as a lot of Globeville's residents. One of my favorite spots is Block 19, home to the members of Holy Transfiguration of Christ Orthodox Cathedral at 349 East 47th Avenue in Globeville.

The church was founded in 1898 by Slavs from homelands that ceased to exist when these countries were annexed by Austria-Hungary, Russia or Germany: Ruthenia, Bukovenia, Bohemia, Carpatho-Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Czechs, Slovakia, and Moravia. If their origins sounded exotic, their circumstances were desperate. 

The empires who oppressed them required them to serve in their armies. And they were starving - their small farms wouldn't sustain large families. Crafts formerly made by hand were now churned out by machines. And so they fled, taking gritty jobs in smelters, railroads and meat packing, working 12 hour days for meager wages.

They settled near each other in the neighborhood between 47th and 48th Avenue, and Grant and Logan Streets, and they are buried alongside each other in Block 19.

It's easy to find this special plot. Many grave markers feature the unique three-bar crucifix of the Orthodox faith, and there are memorials with gold onion domes, or inscriptions in Cyrillic or Russian. Most striking is a small sky-blue chapel, constructed in 1922 in memory of John Wysowatcky who was killed in action in the last weeks of World War I. Each year, a Requiem Mass is held in this small building on the first Sunday after Easter, known as St. Thomas Sunday, to honor deceased members of the parish. Another Mass is celebrated there on Memorial Day.

Riverside Cemetery is a gem. Come wander the grounds and visit Denver's early settlers. Stop by Block 19 and read the inscriptions on the memorials of Globeville's Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Cathedral. 

 

Requiem Mass, Saint Thomas Sunday

Ephemera - the classification of postcards

Collectors call it "Ephemera," meaning something fleeting, short-lived or temporary. But these romantic postcards meant a lot to my Grandma Ida Jackson, and she saved them in a cigar box. There are postcards from the "Old Country" written in Slovenian to Andrej Jakin from his mother and his in-laws. There are some to Ida in Swedish from her Swedish cousins in Oregon, and from friends in Pueblo, Leadville and Salida. My favorites are those from Andrej Jakin to Ida MacOwen. His English is rough and his handwriting is crude, but his heart is all hers for all the world to see.

They would marry in May of 1907 and he would Anglicize his name to Andy Jackson. The postcards continued because sometimes he could only find work in Red Cliff, Salida and Pueblo.

When I knew my grandparents they were "old." My grandpa was active at Holy Rosary Church and the Knights of Columbus, and my grandma was busy helping family members and neighbors. I treasure the postcards in the cigar box from grandma's "Affinity." They offer me a glimpse of a young couple in love, navigating the challenges of their lives together: a growing family, unpredictable employment and family separated by jobs. They were married for 54 years. Nothing temporary about it.

Holy Rosary Homecoming, October 7th 2023

We've had such a wonderful time at our previous Homecoming gatherings that we're having it again. Were your grandparents married at Holy Rosary? Was anyone in your family baptized here? Did any of your family attend school or church at the parish? Sing in the choir? Act in a school play? Attend religious education classes? What teachers do you remember? Were you called to the principle's office (horrors!) Did you sneak out of Mass during the bi-lingual sermons?  Do you remember Mass in Latin? Can you sing the Tantum Ergo? Did you go to the church bazaar? Enjoy our monthly pancake breakfasts?

Join us on Saturday, October 7th for Homecoming!

We'll begin with Mass at 10:00 am, and meet afterward in the cafeteria to share coffee, pastry and memories. Bring your photos, scrapbooks, notebooks, recipes, posters, and stories. (You might even discover a distant relative).

There will be a video set up in the small classroom near the cafeteria where you can share a memory of your family, a favorite teacher or what Holy Rosary meant to you.

RSVP maryloudesign@comcast.net

Let us know by October 1st, so we can have enough food!

Johnny Popovich managed the bar in the Slovenian home for years.

After WSA sold the site to McDonalds, he served as an usher 
for the 8:00 am Mass and attended the monthly pancake breakfasts.
A class act!

Bingo was a big money maker for the church

Guitar Mass during the 1970s

Father John Canjar grew up in the parish
and served as pastor from 1959 to 1969

Orthodox Food Festival and Old Globeville Days

It's finally here! The granddaddy of church festivals: the Orthodox Food Festival and Old Globeville Days will be held on Saturday, September 9th, from 11:00 am until 7:00 pm. There will be an abundance of ethnic food, drinks and desserts from Greece, Romania, Russia, Eritrea, Mexico, Serbia, Italy and Ukraine. You'll enjoy music and dance performances, soft drinks, craft beers and Eastern European brandies and vodkas. Crafts, Pysanky, Ukranian folk art, iconography, books and games for the children keep everyone entertained.

Take a tour of historic Holy Transfiguration of Christ Orthodox Cathedral, built in 1898, and aligned with Orthodoxy since 1903. This exquisite temple glows with icons, candles, symbolism and 120 years of stories.

The festival is one day only and admission is FREE - don't miss it.

https:www.facebook.com/orthodoxfoodfestival

349 East 47th Avenue  •   303-294-0938

Obituaries

Lucille Korsich and Louis Vuksinich 

I read the obituaries every chance I get. Online, and always, the big edition in the Sunday newspaper. It's a family pastime.

My mom would call my brothers, Bill or Joe, or my sister Susan, or me, and if the purpose of the call was to notify someone of an obituary, there would be no small talk. Mom would start right in. "Lucille Vuksinich died." Then there would be pause while she collected her "data." And I would make myself comfortable and wait for the litany of facts: who the person was, where their family came from in the old country, where they live in Globeville, who they married, how many children they had and what our family connection might be.

Mom continued, "Lucille was a Korsich and we're related somehow. Her father was Leopold, 'Polde' they called him, and he and grandpa and Anton 'Tony' Kumar all came over together from the same town in the old country and settled in Globeville and worked for the Globe Smelter. And Polde married Teresa Gerbic - they'd known each other in the old country but they got married in Globeville.

"And they had five children, two boys - Leo and John, and three girls - Mary, Rose and Lucille, and Lucille was the youngest.

"Now Lucille was older - she was 36 - when she married Louis Vuksinich. And they probably met at St. Jacob's Croatian Hall or the Slovenian Home. And they just had the one son, Larry.

"Lucille went back to the old country, all by herself. It was after Louis had died and it was Yugoslavia then. And she stayed for three weeks with the Korsich family. And then they kept in touch."

When mom had related all the pertinent background information, she would finally get to the purpose of the call, which was to say when and where the Rosary and funeral Mass would be held. And we would attend, of course. Because we're related somehow.

A week or so ago, my sister Susan called. "Did you see the listing for Priselac?" "I did," I replied. Susan continued. "Eighty eight years old, graduated from Annunciation High School and was real proud of his Slovenian and Croatian heritage. Weren't there some Priselacs at Holy Rosary?"

I wished I could call mom.

June Jackson Egan