WASHINGTON UKRAINIAN FESTIVAL

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WASHINGTON UKRAINIAN FESTIVAL Annual Washington Ukrainian Festival in Silver Spring, MD, since 2003 Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Silver Spring, Maryland.

This page was created by Ukrainian Washington and is dedicated to Washington Ukrainian Festival held annually in September on the ground of St.

10/10/2026

12,000+ visitors. Three days of Ukrainian food, music, dancing, and incredible energy.

This is our final video from this year’s festival, but the memories aren’t going anywhere!

We’ve uploaded 2,000+ photos! Go find yourself, spot your friends, and relive the fun: https://photos.app.goo.gl/FMXPby1TQaw1pwqX7

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out and made this happen. You’re what makes this festival so special.

That’s a wrap, DMV! See you next September!

We’re beyond grateful to our amazing sponsors, thanks to whom we can host tents for 11 incredible Ukraine-focused nonpro...
10/07/2026

We’re beyond grateful to our amazing sponsors, thanks to whom we can host tents for 11 incredible Ukraine-focused nonprofit organizations! Their support also helps us bring Ukrainian culture to life with vibrant performances, delicious food, and unique traditions.

A big shoutout to our sponsors:

Giant – a loyal partner supporting our festival for years and helping us grow and thrive.

Ukrainian Selfreliance Federal Credit Union (UKRFCU) – for standing by the Ukrainian-American community and showing continued support.

I.S. Law Firm – our second year working with them! They provide trusted legal services, including immigration assistance, and we hope this is just the beginning of a long partnership supporting the Ukrainian-American community.

Ed’s Plant World – a one-stop destination for all things green and growing. As a full-service nursery and garden center, they’ve supported us for years, and so much of the greenery and beautiful plants you see at the festival are thanks to them.

Polka Deli – our friends bringing Polish flavors and traditions to the festival! We’re grateful to have them as part of our community and to share even more great food and culture with our festival visitors.

AoPS Academy – helping students build strong foundations in math, science, and problem-solving. We’re grateful for their support of our festival and our community.

Thank you to every sponsor who believes in this festival and helps make it possible!

10/03/2026

You know the food is good when people are driving in from Pennsylvania and New Jersey just to eat it.

Grilled meats, smoked meats, holubtsi, varenyky, borsch, salo, bigos and a cold b**r to wash it all down.

For some people, the Festival is a chance to share the food they grew up with. For others, it’s their first real taste of Ukraine.

Either way, this was a good place to be hungry.

10/01/2026

What does Ukraine mean to you?

We asked people at the festival, and honestly, the answers got us a little emotional.

For some, it’s home. For some, it’s family. For others, it’s the language, the food, the memories, the traditions or just a feeling that’s hard to explain.

Here’s what they had to say.

Thanks to everyone who stopped for a minute, shared their story, and let us into a little piece of their world.

09/29/2026

This year, the Washington Ukrainian Festival featured five exhibitions, each giving visitors a different way to see and understand Ukraine.

One of the moments that really stayed with us was watching an artist cut a Tree of Life from a single sheet of paper, right in front of us.

It turned out to be a perfect symbol for everything happening around it.

Jonathan Brook's “Defenders Without Weapons” brought visitors face to face with Ukrainian first responders - people who run toward danger to rescue and save others.

The 70 Ukrainian rushnyky from the private collection of George P. Kent and Velida Kitaina Kent connected us with generations of Ukrainian tradition, with stories and symbols carried forward through embroidery.

“The Paper Path of the Soul,” by Volha Palunisa and dedicated to Ukrainian artist Daria Alyoshkina, showed how something as simple as paper can hold memory, identity and tradition.

And “35 Years of Ukraine’s Independence,” created by the Institute of Judaica (Ukraine) with support from the DAR Charitable Foundation (Ukraine) and the DAAR Foundation (U.S.), invited visitors to walk through the lived experience of Ukraine during the war.

The fifth exhibition featured powerful photographs of the damage to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra after a Russian drone strike. We shared that story in a separate post.

Five exhibitions. Five different perspectives. But underneath all of them was the same story: where you come from, what you carry forward, what you survive, and what you refuse to let disappear.

Maybe that’s why the Tree of Life felt so right. Deep roots. Strong branches. And a story that keeps growing

Today we want to take a moment to shine a light on the people who make the Washington Ukrainian Festival happen.This Fes...
09/28/2026

Today we want to take a moment to shine a light on the people who make the Washington Ukrainian Festival happen.

This Festival runs 100% on volunteers. Dozens of people give their time, energy, and skills to make these three days possible - and so much of what they do happens behind the scenes.

Our volunteers clean the grounds, prepare food, set up electricity, organize refrigeration, make decorations, run and film the program, paint faces, braid hair, help visitors, and take care of countless other details.

And when the Festival ends, the work doesn’t stop. There’s still a full week of cleanup ahead.

There’s also a bigger reason we keep doing this.

Russia has turned Ukraine into a place where war crimes are happening every day. While Ukrainians are fighting for their country and their lives, we’re doing everything we can from here to help. A portion of the Festival proceeds goes to support Ukraine and provide humanitarian aid where it’s needed most.

We want to introduce you to the incredible people who keep this Festival going year after year.

If we missed you in the photos, please send us your picture - we want to include you too.

And to every volunteer who gives their time and energy to make this Festival happen: thank you. We truly couldn’t do it without you.

09/26/2026

Our American guests kept telling us that Ukrainians really know how to dance.

We heard them.

We took notes.

And then we made this video.

For scientific purposes, obviously

One thing we’ve heard again and again since the Festival: “It felt like home.”And honestly, hearing that means more than...
09/25/2026

One thing we’ve heard again and again since the Festival: “It felt like home.”

And honestly, hearing that means more than we can say.

Maybe it was the food, the music, the Ukrainian language, the familiar faces or just being surrounded by people who support Ukraine and stand with us.

Thank you for being part of it.

We’re still going through about 8,000 photos, so stay with us. We’ll be sharing more moments, photos and videos from the weekend over the next few days.

This year, one of the Washington Ukrainian Festival’s most meaningful exhibitions almost didn’t make it to Silver Spring...
09/25/2026

This year, one of the Washington Ukrainian Festival’s most meaningful exhibitions almost didn’t make it to Silver Spring.

The photographs were coming from Kyiv. They arrived at the last possible moment, after a journey that involved more than a little uncertainty and made it to the festival just in time.

The photographs, taken by Father Andrii Sydor Андрій Сидор, documented the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on a night when nearly a thousand years of history met the reality of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

In the early hours of June 15, 2026, a Russian drone struck the Dormition Cathedral at the Lavra.

Andrii’s photographs captured the cathedral in flames after the strike, followed by images of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service rescuers working to repair the damage.

We displayed those photographs at the festival.

The Lavra has stood for nearly a thousand years. Its churches and caves have witnessed generations of Ukrainians come to pray. It has survived rulers, wars and empires that once seemed permanent.

And then, in a single night, a Russian drone came through the sky.

Sometimes a photograph does something a caption cannot.

It makes you stop.

It makes a place feel real.

And it reminds you that history isn’t only something that happened long ago.

History is happening right in front of us.

09/24/2026

We asked our visitors at the Washington Ukrainian Festival to try saying a few Ukrainian words.

Some absolutely nailed them.

And obviously we had to throw "palyanytsia" in there.

During the early months of russia’s full-scale invasion, palyanytsia became kind of a Ukrainian code word because it’s notoriously difficult for russian speakers to pronounce correctly.

So, naturally, we had to see how our Festival visitors would do

Address

15100 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring, MD
20905

Opening Hours

Friday 5am - 9pm
Saturday 11am - 9pm
Sunday 11am - 9pm

Telephone

+13013849192

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