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Maple Heights Catering and Raddell's Slovenian Sausage Shop each took a title at the 6th Annual Slovenian Sausage Fest sponsored by the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum. An estimated 400 pounds of Slovenian sausages were purchased by a crowd of 800 at the Slovenska Pristava center in Harpersfield, Ohio. Attendees sampled Slovenian sausages from vendors and voted for their favorites on Saturday, September 13. A formal tasting jury also selected a winning sausage.
The People's Choice Award went to Raddell's Slovenian Sausage Shop with R & D Sausage Shop as the runner-up. A panel of judges picked Maple Heights Catering for "top klobasa" of 2009 with Raddell's as a close second. Three generations of the Hocevar family, owners of Maple Heights Catering, accepted the banner for "Best of Fest." Both Raddell's and Maple Heights have won the awards in previous competitions. All three sausage vendors are based in Cleveland, Ohio.
Two of the judges were natives of Slovenia: Hon. Jure Zmauc, Cleveland's new Consul General of Slovenia, and Luka Zibelnik, visiting professor at Cleveland State University for Slovenian language studies. The remaining judges were Kathy Zamejc Vogt of St. Catherines, Ontario, Rose Frohnhofer of Allison Park, Pennsylvania, and Tine Ribic of Slovenska Pristava. Visitors included Bonnie Zalokar Pandya, mother of United States astronaut Sunita Williams, who took Slovenian sausages onto the Discovery space shuttle.
Slovenian sausages (kranjske klobase) are cured and smoked and prepared from recipes brought to the United States by immigrants from Slovenia. The Slovenian Sausage Fest is hosted by the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum and the American Slovenian Polka Foundation based in Euclid, Ohio. Six polka bands volunteered to perform eight hours of music at this year's festival.
"The Slovenian Sausage Fest is a perfect combination of good music, good food and good people," said Cecilia Dolgan, President of the Polka Hall of Fame and Museum. "We enjoy sharing our love of Slovenian music and culture."
The National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum celebrates the city's home-grown dance music. Audio exhibits, historic photographs and original instruments trace the story of the sound from its roots in the old Slovenian neighborhoods to national success in the 1950s with America's Polka King, Frank Yankovic, and many other orchestras. About 300 bands still play the distinctive sound today. The Hall of Fame and Museum has 1,500 members across North America and in Europe. It is the world's only museum dedicated to Slovenian music. Annual polka music awards are presented by the Polka Hall of Fame at a televised ceremony each November.
"We love polka dancing and we love sausages -- they go together!" said Frank Gorenc of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. "This is our first time at the festival and I know we'll be back."
