CLEVELAND — As Lent comes to an end, thousands of folks are gearing up for Dyngus Day, a Polish holiday celebrated the Monday following Easter.
In Cleveland, Dyngus Day has been celebrated for at least a decade, but has grown in popularity in recent years.
"The first year it was a couple hundred people with some signs and parading around going bar to bar," Heritage Productions President Adam Roggenburk told 3News. "Then in 2019, we saw numbers of 40,000 people."
In-person festivities were canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the event transitioning to a virtual celebration in which thousands of people joined, according to Roggenburk. In 2021, Dyngus Day in Northeast Ohio was modified to accommodate for COVID-19 guidelines.
This year, it's almost back to normal.
"It's truly amazing to see how our city can come together and support their heritage," Roggenburk said. "It's amazing how all different type of ethnic backgrounds come out, and tomorrow everyone is Polish, just like everyone's Irish on St. Paddy's Day."
SPRING FUN GUIDE: Laura DeMarco's 10 must-do activities in Northeast Ohio
Gordon Square will host the Dyngus Day festivities on Monday, just as it has in the past.
"Gordon Square is Dyngus Day," Roggenbuck stated. "It just happens to be that Gordon Green Event Center will kind of be the capital of Dyngus Day tomorrow."
Several bars and restaurants in the area are also hosting celebrations. For a full list of participating businesses, visit clevelanddyngus.com.
Check out our coverage from Dyngus Day 2019: