BARRIE, ONTARIO Four years ago, when Father Petro Bodnar organized the first Ukrainian Festival in this city of 115,000, he was pleased when 70 people turned out. This year, organizers were delighted when a record, sell-out crowd of over 600 showed up at Barries Event Centre on October 21.

Bodnar, parish priest at Exaltation of the Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Church, who also serves mass at Sts Volodymyr and Olha UC Church in Kawaja Beach during the summer months, was assissted by committee members Roman Huzar, Peter Letwin, Peter Bahry, Collin Wackett, Dianne Koroscil, Roman Plawiuk and Gerry Sawicki.

Barrie Mayor Jim Perri welcomed those in attendance and said he hoped the Ukrainian Festival would continue to grow and demonstrate the citys rich ethnic diversity.

Local MPP Joe Tascona (Barrie Simcoe Bradford) read a proclamation from Ontario Premier Ernie Eves, who as the MPP noted, is of Ukrainian descent.

The concert portion of the event featured two Barvinok dance ensembles one from Windsor and another from Mississauga. Also showcasing dance were Tyrsa Ukrainian Dance School from Burlington, the Odessa Dance Ensemble from Oshawa and students from the local Ballet Russe Studio.

The young bandurists of the Dniprovi Khvyli Ensemble sang traditional Ukrainian melodies.

Later on, audience members were serenaded by vocal duet Aria, which consists of Ukrainian-born Oresta Babyuk and Canadian-born Andrijka Vasylevska.

11-year-old Lucas Gariepy won the perogy-eating contest, beating out 3 other contestants, including one adult.

Festival guests were able to become acquainted with more than just Ukrainian food, song and dance.

The Canadian Lemko Association set up an informative display with plenty of literature, archival photographs, authentic folk costumes and historic farming implements.

Also noteworthy was the collection of Volynian embroidery presented by Carol McMaster. The Holy Cross parishioner, who is of partial Ukrainian de-scent, visited Ukraine a number of times before she was able to track down her family in a remote Volynian village.