GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The countdown is on to the time of year when everyone is Polish for a weekend - Pulaski Days. With just days to go before the official kickoff, Diamond Hall got things started on Tuesday night with a pierogi eating contest and kapusta cookoff.
The rules for the pierogi eating contest are simple. You get four minutes to eat as many pierogi as you can. There is a men's division and a women's division and whoever eats the most pierogi would be named the king and queen of the contest.
"I did it one time thinking I love pierogis and I can eat a lot of them. I just can't eat a lot of them in four minutes. So when I did it before I ate five, which isn't very good, but it's just fun," said Diamond Hall board member Carianne Seppala.
The kapusta cookoff is an equally exciting aspect to the event.
"Every family does their kapusta differently. We do a kapusta cookoff just like a chili cookoff. We have judges and we have entries, and at the end we have a first place, a second place, and a peoples' choice award," Seppala.
This year's Pierogi King was Scott Uzarski who ate 22 pierogi and the Pierogi Queen was Molly Markoski who ate 18 pierogi. In the kapusta cookoff, Dolly Pelton won first prize and peoples' choice. Terri Nadler finished in second place.
The event is not an official Pulaski Days event, but it serves as a way to get people ready for the big weekend. Organizers are hoping an awesome crowd on Tuesday is just a sign of things to come for Pulaski Days, which helps raise money to keep Polish Halls like Diamond Hall open.
"This is the grand thing for the Polish community. Without this event, I don't think there would be many Polish halls left," Seppala said.
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