The First DYNGUS DAY Parade In New York City
WHO: St. Stanislaus Kostka R.C. Church, 607 Humboldt St, Brooklyn, NY 11222
WHAT: DYNGUS DAY PARADE
WHERE: Starts near the church, marches 7 blocks to the Msgr. McGolrick Park
WHY: Celebration of the Polish Traditional Festival
WHEN: 5:30 PM, Monday, April 18th

Music Website: DyngusDaySongs.com
This is where our original Music Videos and Songs may be explored

Contact: PHONE #917-626-5956  eMail Director@DyngusDaySongs.com
Parade Producer: Fr. Grzegorz Markulak
Public Relations: Martyna Sokol
Music Video Producer: Professor David Musial
Music Producer: Kasia Drucker
Dyngus Day called also Smigus – Dyngus, is a traditional Polish Festival that happens on the Monday after Easter, and celebrates the end of the observance of Lent and the joy of Easter. It is most well-known for using water squirters representing “holy water” and “Pussy Willow” or “Easter Willow” branches. It is celebrated globally but the biggest parade in the world is in Buffalo, New York.                                                                                                              
This year, for the first time in the history of NYC it will happen in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The parade will commence in front of St. Stanislaus Church on Humboldt St., next walk around 7 blocks through Nassau Ave, then Kingsland Ave, and will conclude in McGolrick Park, at the center of the park where we will continue the celebration of the festival. Some attractions and surprises are expected.                                                                                                                   

The main organizer is father Grzegorz Markulak. Martyna Sokol is our Public Relation contact. David Musial is the audio, sound system  and video producer. Kasia Drucker is a music producer. She also designed the Poster for the First Dyngus Day Parade.

What is the story?                                                                                                                            

 Professor David Musial, a Buffalo New York native who resides in Jersey City, composed a base song in 2017 simply questioning the roots of the festival, by the title  “WHAT DA HECK IS DYNGUS DAY?” One of his students 10-year-old Rafal Wolosz, came for his weekly private lesson with his dad to his music studio later that day, and with excitement reported that he finished his “EDM Techno homework in GarageBand on his iPhone!” Professor Musial was surprised by this comment, because he did not give him any homework of this nature. Suddenly remembering that he is Polish, he asked Rafal to go into the vocal booth, and sing his student’s composition and translate the chorus into Polish. The final song was created and now the rest is history!                                                                                                                                             

The song was used in the Dyngus Day Parade in Buffalo New York in 2018. Mrs. Bernadette Pawlak, the president of the parade announced that it was the “best ever” and that it was “playing on all the radio stations”. She said that not only is it educational, but it is also fun. Imagine that? Mr. Tom Lorentz, the Vice President of the Buffalo Music Hall Of Fame, provided the sound system!                                                                                                                           

In 2019 we returned with Rafal and his friends Maciej & Emelia Part and their families, and they performed in the parade with the Polish Heritage Dancers of Western New York. In 2020 due to the pandemic, there was no parade, but a segment of our parade video aired on ABC television!                                                                                                                                   

This is how the idea of an interesting project in 2022 was born. Professor David Musiał and Polish opera singer and teacher Kasia Drucker, created an educational project for children Dyngus Day Songs. Then in cooperation with the Polish Maria Konopnicka School in Greenpoint, several children volunteered to learn how to record a new song, which we composed especially for this special day, entitled "I LOVE DYNGUS DAY!”                                                                        

Originally it was meant to be presented in Buffalo, but ... when we announced our program we also expressed our dream that it might initiate a new tradition in NYC, the Dyngus Parade in Greenpoint. The idea was quickly picked up by Father Grzegorz Markulak and after the joint meeting he said, "What great idea! Let’s do it!"                                                                     

We will start the parade with a sound system on a truck playing “WHAT DA HECK IS DYNGUS DAY” followed by a brand new version produced by Prof. Musial THIS WEEK of the 3 Time GRAMMY NOMINATED “EVERYBODY’s POLISH ON DYNGUS DAY”, (this is a version composed by Ray R Barsukiewicz with the original singer Ken Machelski and the Buffalo Touch Polka Band, PLUS a Multicultural collection on new singers including Grammy & Emmy Nominated Broadway & Carnegie Hall Star N'KENGE, and also The ROSADOS TWINS who have performed in the biggest parade in America, plus many more representing the heritages of India, Australia, Italy, Yugoslavia, Romania and more supporting the message), and at the end, there will be the premiere of the song "WE LOVE DYNGUS DAY", where the chorus and the bridge will be in English & Polish. During the march, other Polish favorite songs will be played as well. People from the community will parade in the streets following the “float” to the center of the McGolrick Park, which is located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in New York City. The new song may be available for streaming on April 18 and any proceeds shall benefit the cultural and educational music programs for kids.                                                                                                         

There is still a lot of work ahead of us and we invite all Polish and American organizations, local officials to cooperate and, above all, to participate in the parade with their banners. We also hope that local businesses and restaurants will join this great campaign and will support our activities. Dyngus is a Polish tradition, let's give the children of Polish Immigrants the opportunity to learn and cultivate this holiday and have fun with it while inviting all New Yorkers to join. Let’s everybody in the community be Polish on Dingus Day. This is why the First Dyngus Parade in NYC was established, not elsewhere but in the center of Polish Community in Greenpoint.