Yalenka Dancers’ Senior Class performs at Saturday night’s Malanka celebration

Prince George, B.C. – The local Ukrainian community was out in force Saturday evening with all the pomp and pageantry to fittingly ring in the New Year.

It was a full house for the annual Malanka celebration at the Hart Community Centre, including several prominent community leaders.  The guests were treated to a meal that featured many traditional Ukrainian dishes, entertainment provided by the Yalenka Dancers, as well as music and dancing afterwards.

The performances by the Yalenka dancers began with Privit – a welcome dance – that featured the group’s tiniest tots to the talented Seniors class. (click on photo at right for video)

For her first Malanka, Mayor Shari Green said that she had skipped lunch, but joked that she would also be skipping breakfast before attending again next year, in order to enjoy a few more perogies and cabbage rolls.

The event included a silent auction for humanitarian aid in the Ukraine and Mayor Green encouraged those in attendance to put in a bid.  "What’s really important tonight is what you’re doing here, which is to raise money for such an important cause in the Ukraine," said Green.  "And humanitarian aid is so important – that people who live in a country like ours and have so much to be thankful for, that we give back to others."

Local MLAs Pat Bell and Shirley Bond had a special gift for the president of the Yalenka Ukrainian Cultural Society, Don Antosko.  Last year, the MLAs presented a flag from the Ukraine that had flown during the 2010 Winter Olympics.  

Bell told the crowd, "We want you to know we feel so warmly welcomed – it’s such a great event, it’s such a great community – and we have another small thing for you this year."  With that he handed the microphone to Bond, "So Pat always does the research, he looks for great Ukrainian people, so he called me a few weeks ago and said, ‘There’s this guy.’"

"This gentleman is 25-years-old, his first name is Jimmy, he is a linebacker, he’s six-foot-three, 233-pounds, he was drafted by the CFL in 2009, and the best thing about him is: he’s Ukrainian," she announced to much applause and cheers.  "And I want you to know he plays for the Grey Cup Champion BC Lions."

Don Antosko gamely put on BC Lions Linebacker, James Yurichuk’s, jersey.  Bond passed on best wishes from Yurichuk and the BC Lions organization to the Prince George Ukrainian community on Malanka.