Each year, New Yorkers flock together to celebrate the annual 7th Street Ukrainian Festival, and this May marks the festival’s 45th edition.
The three-day festival celebrates Ukrainian culture, food, and music with various performances put on to entertain festival goers and vendors selling traditional arts and crafts.
Saint George Ukrainian Catholic Church (30 East 7th Street) has sponsored the festival since the very first one in 1976. Founded in the East Village in 1905, visitors today enjoy breathtaking ornamentation, paintings, and incredible mosaics in the Byzantine-Ukrainian style.
Each year, the festival draws several thousand people down to the East Village.
Here’s everything else you need to know about the festival:
What is the 7th Street Ukrainian Festival?
The Saint George Annual 7th Street Ukrainian Festival is a way for New Yorkers and visitors alike to gather together and celebrate Ukrainian culture.
Over 30,000 sought-after Ukrainian dumplings (varenyky) have been prepared in advance for this year’s celebration, and in addition to these there will also be plenty of cabbage rolls (holubtsi), beet soup (borshch), sausage (kobasa), and sauerkraut to dig into and enjoy.
The legendary Veselka Restaurant will also be on hand all weekend long, sharing some of their favorite Ukrainian menu items. A portion of these sales will be donated to Humanitarian relief efforts.
When is the festival taking place in 2023?
The festival will run from Friday evening, May 19, through Sunday, May 22. The event calendar is as follows:
Friday 5/19
- 4 p.m. – “Cold open” with food and crafts vendors
Saturday 5/20
- 2 p.m. – Outdoor song and dance stage performances
- 5 p.m. – Ukrainian Liturgy inside St. George Church
- 6 p.m. – Outdoor stage performances
Sunday 5/21
- 7 a.m., 8 a.m., & 10 a.m. – Ukrainian Liturgies inside St. George Church
- 11:30 a.m. – Concert inside St. George Church by Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York
- 1 p.m. – Outdoor stage performances
What time is the 7th Street Ukrainian Festival?
The festival runs from Friday evening, May 19, through Sunday late afternoon, May 21.
Where does the festival take place?
The festival will occupy all of East 7th street between 2nd and 3rd avenues.
The festival is bordered at its west end by Taras Shevchenko Place, a small street connecting East 6th and East 7th Streets. This is the only street in the U.S. named after Taras Shevchenko, the “National Bard of Ukraine.”
You can learn more about the festival on their Facebook.
Bonus: beyond the festival, why not celebrate Ukrainian culture every day? These are some of our favorite Ukrainian businesses in NYC.