Nobody celebrates the end of Lent quite like the Polish community and eastern Niagara County has at least two Dyngus Day celebrations on Monday. The Ski Lodge at 405 Niagara St. and 4 Kings Distillery at 2712 West Ave. in Newfane will roll out traditional foods, cocktail specials, and polka music to celebrate.
“It’s a day-long affair,” said Rob Szpilewski, co-owner of the Ski Lodge. “Our family is 100% Polish, so the heritage of Dyngus Day and what it symbolizes is important to us. Like Fat Tuesday kind of symbolizes the beginning of Lent. Dyngus Day is the end.”
“My grandmother always thought it was fun to have the pussy willows around and hit us little kids just for the fun of it,” Mike Outten of 4 Kings said of the traditional branches.
Outten said the tradition in Poland was for boys to come courting for girls with pussy willows. A splash of water represented purification, he said.
“I saw squirt guns at different restaurants,” Outten said.
“We don’t condone the squirt guns,” Szpilewski said wearily. “We have replaced the floor at our establishment three times, mostly because of water damage. There were Dyngus Day parties where people were dumping buckets of water. When you have squirt guns … and computer screens, and TVs, it’s got to end. We have fun, but we have tapered it down.”
What the Ski Lodge lacks in precipitation, it more than makes up for in complimentary food.
“It’s a tradition we’ve been really proud of over the years,” Szpilewski said. “We have really down-home Polish cooking that we put out every year and we don’t charge. If you walk into our doors, you’re going to get a great meal on us and it’s something we’re really proud of because it’s a lot of work.”
The Ski Lodge will be serving potato and cheddar pierogies, cabbage rolls, and Polish sausage kielbasa from a family-owned bakery in St. Catharines, Ont. Szpilewski said they will also have kapusta, a sauerkraut soup that includes sausage, bacon, potatoes, and cucumber pickles. Take-out dinners are available starting at noon, he said.
While Szpilewski said plenty of people enjoy Tyskie, the house Polish beer, he will also be serving krupnik, LaRue blackberry brandy, the house shot the Ski Slope, and a splash of spirytus, a grain alcohol.
“It’s a talking point,” he said of the liquor. “People don’t really drink it.”
Krupnik, a honey liqueur with a vodka base, is serious business at 4 Kings Distillery.
“We’re making it and selling it,” Outten said. “It’s our top seller right now. Usually, people taste it and then they buy. Eight out of 10 people taste it, eight buy it. Ours is cinnamon-forward. Then the honey sits on your palette as it finishes. I’m going to make a lot of that over the next two months as we get into festival season. We’ll also have five other Dyngus Day specialty cocktails, including a krupnik Manhattan that is fantastic.”
Outten said the distillery will be serving authentic food starting at 1 p.m. from Polska Chata in Irondequoit, including pierogis, fresh and smoked sausage, pickled beets, and rye bread. They ask customers to limit squirt guns to under 3 inches.