Bridgeport savors Croatian fest, feast
Chicago Sun-Times, Aug 16, 2006 by Shamus Toomey

Tuesday was a great day to be Croatian in Chicago.

With St. Jerome Parish at 23rd and Princeton celebrating its 100th annual Croatian Fest, it also seemed a great day simply to be in Bridgeport. Unless you were a lamb, that is.

For the 100th consecutive Aug. 15, the Croatian parish honored the Virgin Mary with a festival heavy on the lamb.

Seventy sheep made the ultimate sacrifice for the party, billed as Chicago's oldest continuous festival. That's about 2,800 pounds of lamb for a hungry crowd that waited through nine days of prayers leading up to the Feast of the Assumption, the Catholic celebration of Mary's assumption to heaven.

In the Croatian culture, the feast -- known as Velika Gospa or "Great Lady" -- takes on an extra role: the celebration of the survival of the town of Sinj, Croatia, in 1715.

According to tradition, the outmanned city prayed to Mary as Turks prepared to lay siege. On Aug. 15, the Turks fell ill and the city was saved.

Advertisement

In Bridgeport, the festival begins with a procession through the neighborhood. The streets are lined with old men with white sneakers and cigars, kids with Croatian flag t-shirts and women on stoops and lawn chairs.

More than a dozen religious-themed floats joined marching bands and war veterans. There was even an old blue Buick with a loudspeaker atop broadcasting the rosary.

"It's a solemn and joyous day," said the Rev. Joe Grbes, pastor of St. Jerome. "The Croatians, they take the day off. Nobody goes to work."

After the procession and a noon mass, it was time for the food. At one booth, cooks grilled 2,400 pork kabobs. One of the cooks was Bridgeport's Robert Sorich, Mayor Daley's former patronage chief who is awaiting his sentence after being convicted last month of rigging city hiring.

32 LAMBS TURNING ON SPITS

Sorich's grill was busy -- but not busier than Neno Babic's lamb room. In a garage behind St. Jerome, Babic oversaw a massive operation that began at 4 p.m. Monday. Thirty-two lambs at a time were put on spits and turned slowly over oak charcoal.

The Croatian-born Babic, 50, is a contractor by trade but a lamb cook by birth. "Back home in Croatia, seven years old, my father teach me how to do this," said Babic.

Bridgeport was a point of entry for Croatians in the early 1900s. They've spread out since, but many still live there. The rest return on Aug. 15.

"It just brings everybody together," said Joe "Stretch" Grzetich, 79, who grew up in Bridgeport and now lives near Midway Airport.

This year brought a special treat: Members of the Knights of Sinj (pronounced SEEN) came from Croatia for the first time. Also known as the Alkari, the knights wear 18th century military uniforms, compete in a jousting-like competition and are celebrities in Croatia.

Seeing it all was like being back home for Ante Marovic, 38, a cabinet maker who moved to the area from Sinj 15 years ago. "It's tradition," he said. "It's memories . . . it's something inside you."

The bash wasn't just for Croatians, though. It's Bridgeport, so plenty of people of Italian, Irish, Chinese and other backgrounds turned out.

"I'm Croatian today," one man shouted across Princeton Avenue, "but I'm Irish tomorrow."

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006