In an attempt to show that Pierogi Fest can master technology, or to demonstrate that it cannot, organizers of this year’s Pierogi Fest (Downtown Whiting- July 29-31st) have released its first ever App, which is downloadable from most sources including Apple. In addition, the festival will expand its clothesline wayfinding system using clothesline mounted signage. “With 275,000 attendees it’s just too loud to scream directions to everyone, so we figured that some attendees will use smart phones or their eyes to figure out how to get around,” noted Tom Dabertin, Chairman of Pierogi Fest. “The clothesline mounted signage worked quite well for everyone except Giants who complained that it was a bit low!”
In addition to the new signage, organizers will once again provide real flush toilet trailers for the convenience of festival “goers” (get the pun?). These air conditioned trailers, affectionately known as “Pee Rogi Stations,” can be found throughout the festival, and are marked by 6ft diameter lighted toilets so those in quick pursuit can find their way, or they can be used by the Giants who don’t like the clotheslines.
Generating the aforementioned needs, are a variety of new food vendors, expanding the wide-variety of food the festival is known for. This year’s festival features more than 85 food vendors making it one of the largest food festivals in the Midwest (non-fair), with 19 Pierogi vendors, and has been named by Trip Advisor as one of the wackiest festivals on the planet! In addition to all kinds of delectable food, the festival also features dozens of arts and crafts booths, 25 specialty vendors (a/k/a Chotchkie or tchotchke, or just stuff people buy) a massive and enlarged beer garden and music and entertainment for everyone on five stages (same number as the fingers on most hands), and a paid concert ($20.00 per ticket) by the world-famous Village People. The festival offers pierogis that have been deep fried, boiled, fried and baked, stuffed with everything from cheese to meat, to even alligator. Food vendors come from: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Tennessee and Florida, as well as Indiana, Illinois and the Chicago-Northwest Indiana area.
Pierogi Fest kicks off Friday, July 29th and runs through Sunday, July 31st, and draws more than 275,000 visitors. The parade, which is even more bizarre that the parade will kick off at 7PM on Friday. This nutty, off-the-wall festival has won all sorts of acclaim. In addition to TripAdvisor, Pierogi Fest was the subject of a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal in 2015, has been named by Oprah Winfrey for five years straight as one of her favorite things to do; Named for ten consecutive years as the Times of Northwest Indiana’s Best Festival; a Blue Ribbon Festival of Summer in 2013 by Yahoo.com; featured on The Food Channel, Travel Channel, television stations throughout the United States, CNN, and television stations in Germany, Slovakia, Poland, China and Australia. It is also rumored that coverage of the festival is very popular with extra-terrestrials.
For more information regarding the festival, contact the Whiting-Robertsdale Chamber of Commerce at 219 659-0292, (media contacts only- Tom Dabertin, Chairman at 219 218-2735).
