Good Times At Gowanda, NY, Slovenian Club Picnic

6:48

7:32

I was up at my usual time, just after 6:00, in fact, I was up waiting for some light to peek into our bedroom so I knew it was after 6:00.  A somewhat boring morning sky, no spectacular sunrise, just some pink over Long Point as it's overcast.  It's 7:40 as I begin this, and the sun has peeked out above the cloud bank momentarily.  It's 60º, a quiet, empty lake as summer wanes.

Pretty In Pink

Yesterday began for me with a long paddle to Bemus and back, heading straight across to Bemus then winding along the Bemus shoreline on the way back.  When I got back, I had my usual breakfast, Evie's homemade granola, with yogurt and blueberries.  Evie wanted to get some things done in the garden which had been ignored during the past three weeks and had become overgrown with weeds as well as some flowers.  So, around 10:30, she started working, with me as an ancillary.  I did some trimming of the lilac, the red twigs, giving them some shape and then worked on some weeding, then weed whacking around the hydrangeas and flower beds.  Around 1:00, I went in and fixed myself a Sunday breakfast, eggs, bacon, and toast.  Evie wasn't hungry and wanted to keep working.  I then finished my book HUE, 1968, finally and decided to read a book I have ignored for years, BEL CANTO. Around 2:30, I had to drag Evie inside from her gardening, so she could shower and get spiffy before we headed to the Gowanda Slovenia Club picnic.

Picnic Venue

We brought lots of water, a backpack, money, cameras, and phones, not knowing what to expect. Gowanda is over an hour away, north and east, so we did not arrive until after 4:00, the polka band starting at 3:00 so it was good timing.  The picnic was at the Collins Conservation Club grounds, on the outskirts of Gowanda.  It's a large, grassy area, with buildings, pavilions, and for the picnic, some tents.  Many club members brought chairs so they could sit on the lawn, surrounded by woods. It's a lovely area for a picnic like this. We paid only twenty bucks because Evie is a member, otherwise it would have been fifty for two of us.  We were both hungry so we got in line for hot dogs and corn, got out our wallet to pay and found out all the food and beer was FREE.  Wow.  And I found out they had sauerkraut and sausages, potatoes, beans and best of all, beef on kimmelwick sandwiches, again, all gratis.

We sat at picnic tables with lots of Gowandans, eating, drinking beer and listening to the great polka band, made up of guys from Michigan, Ohio, and New York.  I guess the same group comes every year.  We spent most of the next couple of hours, listening to the band, eating and drinking, watching an annoying woman in cowboy boots dance every tune alone.  We actually got up a couple of times to dance the polka but since no one else seemed to want to dance, we did not dance much.  One of the only disappointmets of the afternoon was that few danced, only an elderly couple.

Dennis, Slovenian Club President  And The Accordion Player/Leader From Michigan And His Sister

Evie talked to the band, asking them if they happened to know her cousin, Tony Petkovsek, the Polka King Of Ohio and of course they did, having played at his Thanksgiving Polka Party in downtown Cleveland each year.  We really did not mingle with the crowd because we did not know anyone.  It was clear, however, that most knew we were not locals, so Dennis, the President of the Slovenian Club, started talking with us and that started the beginning of our making all kinds of acquaintances. Once they realized Evie was a pure blooded Slovenian, we started making connections.  Others came up to talk and they wanted to know how we ended up at the picnic and we told the story of driving to Gowanda to hike the Zoar Valley when we passed a building with a Gowanda Slovenian Club sign. We of course had to stop and ended up joining the club.

Button Box Accordian Player From Pittsburgh

Anyways, two of the polka band members came over to talk with us, one from Michigan, the other from Pittsburgh and we talked about Slovenian families we might know.  Evie's Mom's maiden name was Smrdrel and the button box player said there were lots of Smrdels in Pittsburgh, a fact we did not know.  He also makes his own sausage, was bringing it to the Club after the picnic and added he was bringing Slovenian cole slaw, which both he and Evie agreed had to be made with white vinegar.  He invited us to come to the after picnic party so we could try his slaw and sausage, a great guy as were all the people who seemed so interested in us.

We ended the night listening to the band until an elderly couple came over to talk, Louis Selan and his wife.  They were both delightful and fun to talk with.  Louis, a WW II vet, is 95 years old and started this annual picnic 70 years ago.  His wife is 86, have been married for 67 years and she still sells real estate for Howard Hanna.  What a neat couple.  They go to the Slovenian Club every Friday night for a fish fry and wanted us to meet them there some Friday.  We hope to do it.

Ninety-Five Year Old Louis And His Wife

We left when the band stopped and because everyone wanted us to come to the after picnic party at the Slovenia Club, we drove there but because we were early and the bartender had not opened it yet, we drove around some in the really neat, well-kept town of Gowanda, even went for a walk.  We then drove to the club, stood outside with a group, also waiting to get in and struck up a conversation with a couple of other locals, both really friendly, and one, Debbie worked at both the Gowanda and now Attica prisons, the only game in this town now that the tanneries of the past, which attracted most of the Slovenian in the 1950's shut down.  The club finally opened and everybody headed to the bar to sit down and we were lucky to get the last two seats at the bar.  Unfortunately, as we expected, it was going to take awhile for the band to arrive and the party to get started.  And we knew we had an hour plus drive home in the dark, so we had one beer, then said our good byes, missing out on seeing the band but we knew it was best to head home, alas.  What a great experience.

The drive home was easy as we got home around 9:30, just as it was getting dark. Both of us were tired from our day and the drive, so we went up to bed early.  Evie was glad I had dragged her out of the garden to go to the picnic.