Kashubia, the region in Poland that is home to Winona’s sister city, Bytów, Poland, is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2020.

Because the deep-rooted Polish heritage found in Winona and surrounding areas, the city of Winona decided to celebrate the Kashubian centennial alongside them in what is being called the Kashubian Capital Centennial Celebration 2020 (KCC2020 ).

Winona, Minnesota, is considered the Kashubian capital of the world due to the large influx of Poles immigrating into southeastern Minnesota in the 1860’s. The majority of the Poles that settled in what is now known as Winona came from a particular region in Poland known as Kashubia, and are considered the Kashubian Poles.

Kashubian culture is a Polish subculture with its own language, art, food and music and it is this culture that Winona will be celebrating in KCC2020.

Lee Gundersheimer, Winona’s art and culture coordinator and Winona city council member, Michelle Alexander went on to explain that after WWI in the Treaty of Versailles, borders were drawn that forced a large part of Kashubia into Germany instead of Poland, and in some instances, people’s homes were on the border, leaving half of the house in Germany and half in Poland.

The Kashubian people were unhappy to be considered German, so in the middle of the night they would move the stakes that marked the boundaries further and further until they were where the Poles deemed as fair.

“It was a war that was actually fought by boundaries with not one shot fired and they acquiesced, so it’s actually, really, kind of an amazing story of cunning” Gundersheimer said.

Eventually, an agreement surrounding the border was reached between Germany and Poland, and the boundaries were reset in 1920, which is why the Kashubians are celebrating the centennial in 2020, even though the country of Poland celebrated their 100th anniversary in 2019.

“That’s the centennial part of it, KCC, the capital part of it is because Winona is the Kashubian capital of America, so when you travel to Kashubia, they know Winona and they know this area because of the great influx of Poles to this region. We came up with the idea to call it the Kashubian Capital Centennial Celebration, or for short KCC2020,” Gundersheimer said.

KCC2020 is a way for citizens of Winona to celebrate the rich Polish heritage that is foundational to the city, provide opportunities for Polish families in Winona to explore their Polish heritage and for other members in the community to learn about the culture that helped shape Winona into what it is today.

Those running KCC2020 wanted to find a way to do both of these things, and therefore reach the broadest range of people. To do this, the committee decided to feature events that could be fun and educational for both historically Polish and non-Polish to enjoy.

The first events for the year-long centennial celebration begin in the first week of February with W-K Elementary celebrating their namesake, the Polish war hero, Tadeusz Kościuszko on Feb. 4 and a Polish paper-cutting workshop on Feb. 8.

Michelle Alexander said that the first major community event will be the March of the Pomeranians on March 28, which is a pet parade that welcomes any and all pets in Winona to be entered into the parade at a cost of $1 per leg on the animal.

Alexander explained that Winona State and President Scott Olson have and continue to partner with the KCC2020 committee as Scott Olson traveled with members of the committee to help establish a relationship with the University of Slupsk and traveled to Bytów, Poland in March of 2019 to begin planning for the centennial celebration.

Winona State has agreed to house Polish artisans on campus when they travel to Winona in June of 2020 and will also be hosting many of the lecture series events on their campus, including a talk from professor Obracht-Prondzynski of the University of Gdańsk, on Kashubian history on Oct. 2.

Other future events will include a Bloedow’s doughnut eating contest, which will allow for individuals to challenge somebody else and take them on head to head in the competition, as well as the major feature event, the Jeny Kochany festival in May at Levee Park.

“We are looking to engage as much as the community as possible, not only in the fun of it, but also for the volunteering part of it,” Alexander said. “On our website KCC2020.org, there’s a calendar, a list of all the events, when they are happening, what’s happening, and most everything is free, there’s [only some] nominal costs if you want to compete.”

The celebration kicked off on Jan. 6 and the first events of the celebration will take place in and around the community starting early next week.

*All opinions expressed are of the Winonan staff. They do not necessarily reflect those of the college, university, system, or student body.*