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SEATTLE – Seattle Center Festál hosts CroatiaFest on Saturday, October 1, 12 p.m.-6:00 p.m. at the Armory Food & Event Hall. Guests can experience and learn about the customs and creativity of the Croatian culture, and the contributions of Croatian Americans to the building of the United States of America at this free, in-person event.
CroatiaFest welcomes the Republic of Croatia Ambassador Pjer Simunovic, Republic of Croatia Consul General of Los Angeles Renee Pea, Croatian Honorary Consul to the State of Washington Dr. Frank Brozovich, and Seattle Center Director Marshall Foster to open the festival.
CroatiaFest is host to numerous vendors, including food and souvenir booths. Festival programming includes traditional dance and music performances by Gorani; Radost Folk Ensemble; Sinovi; Trubaduri of Pittsburgh, PA; Bonaca; Seattle Junior Tamburitzans, and more. There will be cooking demonstrations with expert chefs, preparing Croatian savory and sweet dishes, and a Croatian marketplace with imported Mediterranean foods and baked goods, crafts, apparel, and gifts.
CroatiaFest Wine Cellars returns with Croatian-American vintner Jason Morin of Ancestry Cellars, and the Balkan Store of Lynnwood, who will be offering a variety of Croatian wines. Admission to A Day of Wine Tasting with CroatiaFest Wine Cellars is $15 and includes an etched CroatiaFest commemorative wine glass or an etched shot glass to use to taste Slivovitza (plum), Maraschino (cherry), Kruskovac (pear), or Orahovac (walnut) liquors from Croatia.
TIME/DATE: 12-6 p.m. on Sunday, October 1
LOCATION: Armory Food & Event Hall, 305 Harrison Street, Seattle, WA 98109
CONTACT: Jayme Stocker, jayme.stocker@seattle.gov / 206.507.5353
For a full schedule of festival activities, visit the Seattle Center website.
About CroatiaFest
CroatiaFest is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Since its inception in 2004, CroatiaFest’s mission is to promote and preserve Croatian culture and to educate future generations of Croatian Americans and the general public with the richness and beauty of Croatian culture and Croatian American contributions to the building of the U.S. With the Honorary Croatian Consul to the State of Washington, Dr. Frank Brozovich, and the support of the Croatian American community of the Pacific Northwest and Canada, CroatiaFest is able to present Croatian culture, history, cuisine, music, original traditional costumes and dance to the thousands of festival attendees and the hundreds of visitors of the Seattle Center campus.
More information on the festival is available at seattlecenter.com and croatiafest.org.
About Seattle Center Festál
Seattle Center Festál cultivates a deeper understanding of the cultures and ethnic diversity that contribute to the rich vibrancy of the Pacific Northwest. This unique series links together 24 free festivals presented on weekends from January to November, each with its own cultural focus, identity, and range of engaging activities. Seattle Center Festál is Where the World Gathers to celebrate the people, the places, the stories, and the traditions of the city’s communities. Seattle Center Festál is produced in partnership with 24 different community groups and supported by City of Seattle, Seattle Center Foundation, 4Culture, and KUOW. Festál is also part of the ArtsFund Cultural Partners Network.
About Seattle Center
Connect to the extraordinary at Seattle Center, an active civic, arts, and family gathering place in the core of our city and region. Seattle Center’s 74-acre campus, centered around the International Fountain, is part of the Uptown Arts & Cultural District and home to Climate Pledge Arena; more than 30 cultural, educational, sports, and entertainment organizations; and a broad range of public and community programs. In everything it does, Seattle Center’s mission is to create exceptional events, experiences, and environments which delight and inspire the human spirit to build stronger communities.
Seattle Center has expanded its role to provide maintenance and public safety services for Seattle’s new Waterfront Park, a series of new public spaces on Seattle’s downtown waterfront between Pioneer Square and the Seattle Aquarium. Seattle Center supports managing these new waterfront public spaces in partnership with the non-profit Friends of Waterfront Seattle, which offers the community a range of recreational and cultural programming. Thanks to the support of Official Seattle Center Partners – Alaska Airlines, The Climate Pledge, Coors Light, Pepsi, Premera Blue Cross, Symetra, T-Mobile, and WaFd Bank – Seattle Center is the #1 arts and entertainment destination in the Pacific Northwest with 12 million annual visitors, generating $1.864 billion in business activity and more than $631 million in labor income annually. www.seattlecenter.com
