3 generations of Winnipeg family celebrate, share Slovenian culture through Folklorama
51st edition of cultural festival kicks off July 31, runs to Aug. 7
Three generations of a Slovenian Canadian family in Winnipeg have a long tradition of involvement with Folklorama, and they all have the same goal — keeping their culture vibrant and sharing it with others.
Melania Lozar, 21, first took part in the long-running multicultural celebration when she was five years old.
"I remember my red dress specifically, and just feeling so pretty on stage and being able to dance among all the other Slovenians in my community," she said.
"It was a way for them to celebrate who they really were back home, but they get to do that now in Canada."
Now, she volunteers at Folklorama's Slovenian pavilion, as do her parents, who have been involved with the festival since its early days.
Folklorama began in 1970, originally intended to be a one-time, week-long event to help celebrate Manitoba's centennial. Winnipeggers loved it, and it became an annual event to celebrate the myriad cultures in the province, with different pavilions offering a range of cultural experiences.
The festival is back with in-person events this year, after being cancelled in 2020 and going virtual in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2022 edition — Folklorama's 51st — will feature 24 pavilions across the city. Twelve will be part of the festival's first week, from July 31 to Aug. 6. Twelve more — including the Slovenian pavilion, located at Bronx Park Community Centre on Henderson Highway — will be part of Week 2 of the festival, from Aug. 7-13.
Lozar said after her grandparents moved to Winnipeg from Slovenia in the 1960s, they were at first worried their kids would not know anything about their roots.
They got involved with the first Slovenian pavilion in 1970, volunteering to dance, make pastries, manage the bar, and organize volunteers. They remained involved, and that torch was then passed on to their children, and now to Lozar.
"Having that sense of community and just that sense of culture is just so important to have in your life," she said.
Making grandpa proud
"When I see my children on stage, the tears come in my eyes," said Tony Korosec, Lozar's grandfather and a first-generation Slovenian pavilion volunteer.
After making the move from central Europe to Winnipeg in 1966, he says the first thing he did was look for a Slovenian community to join in the city.
He recalls the first Slovenian pavilion being at the community's church, with singers who flew in from Slovenia to perform — a memory Korosec holds close to his heart.
"We were proud of them," he said.
He's thankful he was able to give his family a better life in Winnipeg, while making sure they don't forget who they are.
"I like to see that my children don't forget where their parents came from and still remember what their grandparents and parents taught them."
'The highlight of my summers'
Lozar's mother, Irene, grew up in Winnipeg and has been involved with Folklorama since she was a child.
"The best memories are the gatherings we have — eating, drinking, dancing, singing," she said.
She even met her husband at the pavilion.
"We danced together, we got married, [and] now we have one daughter," she said.
For the first time, Melania Lozar is teaching the group of youth and teen dancers who will perform at Folklorama this year. She turned to her mother for assistance with the folk dances.
"It's very rewarding to see her be involved and how committed she is and that she's following the footsteps of her parents and grandparents," Irene said.
Melania Lozar hasn't yet had the chance to visit her motherland, but she describes Folklorama as a "pre-Slovenia experience" until she gets to see it herself.
With the Slovenian community getting smaller in Winnipeg — Korosec said there were as many as 1,000 people at its height, and now only about 500 in the province — Melania Lozar says it's important to keep the culture alive through events like Folklorama, especially for young people like the dancers she's working with this year.
She remembers her own Folklorama experience as a child — and hopes by volunteering, she can help others have that too.
"I want the same experience for … [the] kids that I have right now in my dance group, as well as the kids that I'd like to have in the future," she said.
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