HUNGARIAN HARVEST DANCE 2006

Hungarian Harvest Dance took place on Saturday, October 7, 2006 and was a big success. The festivities began at 6:00 P.M. when Suzie Green performed the Star-Spangled Banner. Vicky Mocsary then presented a brief historical sketch of the community and noted that 2006 marks the 110th anniversary of Hungarian Settlement. She also noted that it was the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and read a list of names of some of the Hungarian refugees that came to settle in the New Orleans-Baton Rouge area. Dr. Stephen Gergatz, Honorary Hungarian Consul of Louisiana, reflected further on the Hungarian Revolution and also discussed the difficulties faced with Hurricane Katrina last year.

Vonnie Brown and the Baton Rouge International Folk Dancers entertained the crowd with authentic Hungarian dances from different regions of Hungary. Some of our community members performed dances with the Baton Rouge dancers. When their dancing was complete, the Hungarian Harvest Dance was performed by local dancers of varying ages.
    
    After the traditional Harvest Dance, there was a wine auction conducted by Jim King with wine donated by Pete Pffifner.

Following the auction, the Boudin Band played a variety of music for public dancing. Food and pastry booths served authentic Hungarian-style food, such as cabbage rolls, cucumber salad, kolbasz sandwiches, kiflis and kalacs.

    This year’s Harvest Dance was dedicated to the memory of three of our dedicated members who passed on this year: George Bodi, Mickey Duczer, and Anna Friedman.   

 (Photo to left: Pete Pffifner, standing next to Beth Wolf holds a gallon of his famous strawberry wine. )