By ALLIE VUGRINCIC

Staff writer

AUSTINTOWN — In an area where ethnic festivals are fairly common, the Rev. Lubomir Zhybak said the St. Anne Ukrainian Catholic Church Ukrainian Festival is as much about bringing different people together as it is about celebrating a heritage.

“I know we all belong to various ethnic backgrounds and we all profess different faiths and we even have different political views,” said Zhybak, the pastor of both St. Anne in Austintown and Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church in Youngstown. “We hope to help people set aside all of their differences … and to come together to enjoy the culture and experience our heritage … especially in today’s America, where … the difference in opinion seems to have created division in American society.”

Zhybak said the Ukrainian Festival helps do just that in a fun environment — with ethnic foods like pierogies and borscht, polka music, and a raffle and Chinese auction. He said even at the festival, a conversation with a stranger could be enough for someone to walk away changed “hopefully for the better.”

Though St. Anne and Holy Trinity parishioners are mainly of Ukrainian heritage, Zhybak said being Ukrainian isn’t a requirement to join the church, and some parishioners come from other diverse ethnic backgrounds.

He said he also helped the festival might help others feel good about their own heritage — just as members of the churches express their heritage and attempt to remember their roots.

Tanya Hankavich, a member of Holy Trinity, said the local Ukrainian community has gotten smaller since her childhood.

“We don’t have as many young families — more senior citizens. A lot of younger Ukrainian families have moved,”

Hankavich said.

She said at one time there were Ukrainian organizations in addition to two Catholic churches and SS. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Youngstown. Until a few years ago, the area supported a Ukrainian dance group.

The first generation of her family born in America, Hankavich grew up speaking Ukrainian at home and attended the now-closed St. Anne’s Catholic School, which was first affiliated with Holy Trinity and then St. Anne when the church broke off as a separate daughter parish.

“We didn’t speak English in our home until we were in school,” Hankavich said. “The neighborhood kids and everyone learned a few words (of Ukrainian).”

She said now, many local Eastern European communities who share parts of their culture like particular foods or music try to band together and support one another.

“Instead of smaller individual communities, this way we become one bigger community,” Hankavich said.

avugrincic@tribtoday.com