Posen set to host 59th annual Potato Festival
by Bob Selwa, Special to the Advance
Posen holds a special place in our hearts for all of us who cherish our heritage and share it with great joy. Posen holds a special place in the hearts of countless Americans who trace family roots to this beloved place in the gently rolling farmlands of Presque Isle County. This year is the 140th birthday of Posen as well as the year of the 59th annual fabulous Posen Potato Festival. Happy birthday, Posen! And welcome to folks from far and near who gather for a grand celebration.
Posen is named for the Poznan region of Poland, a great farming region of Europe. The settlers of Posen came from Poland. Posen’s first settlers were lumbermen from Poland who arrived in woodlands of Presque Isle County in 1870 and saw the potential for farming as they cleared the woods. It was hilly, well-drained land. The first settlers cleared stones from the fields creating stone piles that remain landmarks today. These settlers with the help of their neighbors built log cabins as their first homes. As the community evolved neighbors got together to build each other’s barns and farmhouses.
The settlers named their community Posen after the German spelling of Poznan which existed during the Partition of Poland from 1795 to 1918. The name of Posen, Michigan, was well established and kept by the settlers when Poland became free and independent. While settlement of Posen first began in 1870, it was the year 1875 that was of special significance. It was in 1875 that Posen Township was established in Presque Isle County, that Posen pioneers built their first St. Casimir Catholic Church, and that the United States of America began the Posen Post Office. In 1955 the Posen Consolidated Schools district was created from one- room schoolhouse country districts — a school system that is outstanding today. So Posen is a village, a township, a post office, and a school district — and a family community. Posen is home of the Posen Potato Festival, one of the greatest festivals in northeast Michigan, and a festival with the largest grand parade of the year in northeast Michigan.
The festival began in 1952 as a one-day event in October at the end of the potato harvest. With the enormous success of that event, the folks of Posen transformed the festival into a weekend celebration, moving it to the end of September, and then to the Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Labor Day to take advantage of the pleasant weather. Since 1964 I’ve been going to the Posen Potato Festival and loving it. My uncle Leo Buszko said to me during a visit to his home in the village of Posen that summer, “Bob, come back in September, we have a fabulous festival that you’ll really enjoy.” And he was right!
It was true . . . and I’ve been coming back often ever since, with family and friends . . . including my wife and sweetheart Jane. We cherish being married 40 years with two children and two grandchildren. Here are some of the things that we appreciate the most about the Posen Potato Festival.
? The big, delicious meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Oh are they good! These feasts are served by the Posen Knights of Columbus, the Posen Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Presque Isle County Council on Aging at St. Casimir Church, and the St. Casimir Rosary Society at the Posen Community Center. ? The prize winning displays honoring the potato as Posen’s farming specialty — the potato as one of our country’s most complete and nutritional foods. Exceptionally outstanding potatoes are a part of every meal in Posen. ? The flea market, booths, displays, carnival and activities all around town. ? The Posen Arts and Crafts Show at Posen High School. ? The Children’s Parade at noon Saturday with delightful and humorous little floats and units. ? The Polish Folk Music Heritage Mass with ?Pan? Franek and Zosi? of Muskegon providing the music and the Posen Knights of Columbus in special service at 9 a.m. Sunday at St. Casimir Church. ? The Grand Parade at 1:30 p.m. on M-65, Michigan Avenue, the long main street of Posen, most excellent and largest parade in al1 of northeast Michigan the entire year. ? Free polka music for listening and dancing in the Polka Pavilion from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. There are also paid admission dances in the Polka Pavilion on Friday and Saturday nights. ? And much, much more . . . including now a patriotic tribute to our courageous men and women in the United States military services, to be held at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in the Polka Pavilion.
Posen is a special place in our hearts, for heritage, for the fun and joy of the Posen Potato Festival, and as an all-around family farming community going back to pioneer days in America. It’s amazing that 30,000 people fill a village of only 300 residents each year for the potato festival with community minded volunteers hosting it all with amazing enthusiastic spirit. For many it’s an extra special homecoming to a beloved family hometown. Jane and I love genealogy and family heritage. My mother Frances Ann Woloszyk and maternal grandparents Joseph Woloszyk and Rose Klimaszewski grew up on family farms in Posen. It was our great-grandparents Albert and Maryann Klimaszewski and Lawrence and Eva Woloszyk who were among pioneer homesteaders of Posen beginning in the 1870s.
We appreciate them and all the other families who settled Posen and passed on their good solid values to each new generation. Look for the old log buildings around Posen and Presque Isle County, for
On the east side of Leer Road two-thirds of a mile south of Long Lake Road in Posen Township is Mystery Valley, a geologic wonder now made available to the public by the Michigan Nature Association and Michigan Karst Conservancy (MNA-MKC). Mystery Valley with its limestone sinkholes becomes at times a blue lake and at other times a lush green valley. A MNA-MKC nature trail into Mystery Valley begins at Sunken Lake Park in Posen Township. Come appreciate your heritage and join in the fun in Posen. Happy 140th birthday, Posen! Welcome, folks, to the Posen Potato Festival!