Valentines

By Volodymyr Kish

Last Saturday, February 11, my wife and I attended a Valentine`s Dinner and Dance in the “Garden City”, that urban metropolis of the Niagara Peninsula better known as St. Catharines, Ont.  This is an annual event run by St. John the Theologian Ukrainian Catholic Church that has become an annual tradition for us, mostly owing to the fact that my sister is actively involved in the parish and I am not foolish enough to refuse any of her “invitations”.  To be fair to her, these always prove to be thoroughly enjoyable affairs and are an eagerly anticipated event on our calendar.

I still remember the first time we attended one of these dances many years ago.  We were a little sceptical of the whole thing beforehand, as St. Valentine’s has become somewhat of a kitschy thing in recent decades and an excuse for merchants to make a killing on chocolates, roses, jewellery and overpriced romantic getaways. Nonetheless, that evening proved to be a ball, schmaltzy red valentines and all. The evening featured a local band led by an energetic and legendary accordionist named Stan, who was better known to all in the area as “One Night Stan.”

Stan knew how to play dance music, particularly to a Ukrainian crowd.  He had honed his craft by playing at various times with the all-time “King of the Polka”, Walter Ostanek, who also hails from St. Catharines.  I should mention, to be accurate, that Walter Ostanek was originally born and raised in Duparquet, Que., a little mining town that is but a stone’s throw from my home town of Rouyn-Noranda, but that is another story.

This most recent St. Valentine’s evening certainly got off to a fine start with dinner, which was catered by none other than the parish priest Father Anton, who aside from his much acclaimed pastoral skills, seems to have a well developed culinary talent.  Father Anton does the cooking for most of the “do’s” that take place in the parish hall, and his inspiration goes far beyond the biblical fish and loaves of bread. 

On this particular evening, the menu included shrimp cocktails, freshly baked croissants, a spring greens salad with a superb fruity balsamic dressing, a pork roulade stuffed with asparagus and spinach, together with grilled vegetables, cabbage rolls, garlic mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy.  The dinner was accompanied by some fine local Ukrainian wine – I say Ukrainian because it was supplied by Joseph’s Estate Winery, the Joseph being Joseph Pohorly, owner and vintner of one of the five Ukrainian wineries in the Niagara Peninsula.  I have a personal connection in that I went to high school with his younger brother Harold.

The only problem with dinner was that, having consumed this exquisite meal, we were at a disadvantage in terms of being able to get fully engaged with the dancing that was to follow.  A long nap would have been more in order.  Nonetheless, the music did eventually start and we did eventually migrate to the dance floor.  Regrettably, “One Night Stan” has mostly retired from the Niagara dance circuit and was not there that night.  In his place we had a band by the somewhat anachronistic name of the “Nu Tones”.  I think the “Nu” part was somewhat misplaced.  Though they made a good go of it at times, their music was more geared to a senior’s club dance than a Ukrainian party crowd.  I need say no more than the fact that the only polka they played that evening was the “Beer Barrel Polka”.  Hmmm!

They did manage to play some more lively contemporary rock as well as appropriate romantic music suitable to the occasion, though it struck me as the night wore on that the lead singer was going out of his way to sound like Willie Nelson, no matter what song he was singing! Now, I have nothing against Willie Nelson, however, singing the Righteous Brothers’ all time classic “Unchained Melody” à la Willie Nelson is probably not a good idea.

In the end, it didn’t matter much as our table was a convivial and eclectic bunch of interesting people who were determined to have a good time and in that, we were eminently successful.  We did dance, we did laugh, we did have a thoroughly good time, and all this for the unbelievable price of $75 a couple.

Yes indeed, those St. Catharines folk, even the more recent additions such as Liudmila at our table who originally came here from Donetsk, know how to have a good time.