Kielbasi Fest/Heritage Day draws crowds to downtown Shenandoah
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - A crowd packs North Main Street for Kielbasi Fest/Heritage Day on May 16, 2026.
SHENANDOAH – Crowds packed downtown Shenandoah throughout the day Saturday for the area’s largest event: the combination of Kielbasi Fest and Heritage Day.
Vendors began setting up on North Main Street early Saturday morning and the Parade of Nations stepped off at 10am.
The parade, notably, was without a crowd favorite: the Mexico contingent’s dancers. The country was still represented with a small contingent and two girls in traditional Quinceanera dresses.
The Shenandoah Valley High School Marching Band led the parade and numerous contingents took part, representing countries like India, Lithuania, and Jamaica, a contingent representing Hawaii, or businesses and community organizations like Mrs. T’s and the Shenandoah Little League and Shenandoah Girls Softball League.
This year’s grand marshal was Anne Chaikowsky La Voie Skirmantas, honored posthumously two months to the day of her death.
Accepting on her behalf was her late husband, Peter Skirmantas, who held back tears as he told the gathered crowd at the opening ceremony about her with pride.
“Even though she enjoyed the west coast and travelling all over the country, Europe, and Canada, she always said Shenandoah was her home and every year, she came back, usually for this particular event,” Skirmantas. “She was also our biggest booster. She told everybody she met about Shenandoah. Somebody in Lithuania who could barely speak English, she told him about Shenandoah.”
“It turns out the guy had relatives here at some point,” he added.
She was an active member of the Greater Shenandoah Area Historical Society and an integral part of the 2016 Shenandoah Sesquicentennial effort to celebrate the town’s 150th anniversary.
More recently, she had opened a Lithuanian Heritage Museum on East Centre Street.
“She was a hell of a woman and, if you didn’t know her, I’ll tell you all about her,” Skirmantas said. “If you did know her, you know exactly what I mean.”
Echoing lessons learned by Anne in her travels, Skirmantas spoke of the area’s melting pot heritage.
“Every one of us is a descendant of immigrants, people who were strangers to these shores. It wasn’t easy, and it still isn’t easy for anyone that’s new coming here, but we need to remember, when we see recent immigrants: That was us or our grandparents, 150 years ago, 100 years ago,” Skirmantas said. “We have more in common than we have that divides us: we want the best for ourselves, we want the best for our kids, we want the best for our future.”
He received proclamations on from Shenandoah Mayor Bob Cook, State Senator Dave Argall, and Reps. Dane Watro and Tim Twardzik.
After the opening ceremony, which also featured a National Anthem performance by Shenandoah Valley alumna Gabriella Fugon and an invocation by Father Kirill Zawatski of Holy Ascension in Frackville, attendees packed the festival which spanned all three blocks of North Main Street.
New vendors and traditional vendors alike lined the streets. Of course, the longest lines were for the Rescue Hook and Ladder Company’s bleenies or for either Lucky’s or Kowalonek’s kielbasi.
The Shenandoah Community Ambulance Association offered CPR tips and training as well.
Live music from the Hawk Mountain Highlanders, the Shenandoah All-Star Polka Band, and more entertained visitors, too.
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