ACTIVITIES & EVENTS

ACTIVITIES

The Rusin Association holds the following:​

    • Duchnovich Dinner

    • Rus’Kyj Den picnic

    • Holiday Hostina

    • Lectures and presentations

Our organization represents the Carpatho-Rusyn Community in Minnesota by participating in or sponsoring:​

    • Workshops, Lectures & Seminars

    • Tours of the Rusyn Homeland

    • Cultural Festivities in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin

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Rusin Association’s upcoming events – 2026!

  • August 1 and 2 – Slavic Experience – St Louis Park, MN 

  • August 22 – MN Discovery Center – Chisholm, MN – There will be a Liturgy at the historic St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Chisholm, MN at 9:30 am followed by an ethnic lunch.  At 1:00 p.m. the Research Center at the Minnesota Discovery Center will host Chisholm author Mary Soroko who will be presenting her book Forged in Iron, A Minnesota Rusyn Immigrant’s Tale.  The Rusin Association will have a display.

  • Rusin Association Vatra – September 19

  • St Mary’s Taste of NE – September 26 – St Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral, 17th and 5th St NE, Mpls

  • Czech and Slovak Festival – September 27, Sokol Hall, St. Paul, MN

PAST EVENTS

Duchnovich Day Celebration, February 7, 2026

Dr. Nicholas K. Kupensky analyzed Dukhnovych not only as a national awakener but also as a writer, one whose aesthetic draws upon the conventions of European Romanticism and American Transcendentalism. At the same time, he will explore what is distinctive about Dukhnovych’s poetics as an example of Carpatho-Rusyn Romanticism.

Link to article – DD 2026 Northeaster article

Duchnovich Day Celebration, February 3, 2024

Successful Carpatho-Rusyn Family Research by Bill Tarkulich

  • What immigrant information is critical and how to discover it
  • How to identify and prioritize documents and resources which will yield the most important and useful results
  • Which major historical events are key to record discovery

Bill Tarkulich is of Carpatho-Rusyn and German descent. He has visited and exchanged much information with researchers, residents, and family in his ancestral villages in the easternmost borderland region of Slovakia. His work includes this area’s political, social, and military history. He has written several papers, delivered many presentations throughout the United States, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society.

Duchnovich Day Celebration – 2023

Carpatho-Rusyns Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow by John Righetti

Saturday, February 4, 2023

Few nationalities have been assailed and demeaned, like the Carpatho-Rusyns, in the last 150 years, both in Europe and America. John Righetti spoke about the amazing story of these stateless people and the hurdles
they have overcome to survive. And find out what the future holds for them.

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Connecting the Living to the Dead (How You Might Be Related)

A Genealogy Presentation by Kim Johnson, Polly Walker, Tammy Dennis, and Eileen Jaszewski

Carpatho-Rusyn, Carpatho-Russian, Rusnak, Lemko, Ruthenian, Transcarpathia, Carpathian Mountains, Austro Hungary, Greek Catholic, Minnesota, Iron Range, Wisconsin, mn, wi, Presov, Greek Catholic Orthodox, Father Toth, Clayton, WI, Bramble, MN Cornucopia, WI, Chishlom, MN, rusin, association, genealogy, heritage, ethnic, history, traditionsSunday, October 16
St Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral Parish Center 
1701 5th St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413

This presentation showed how to use genealogical tools in a real-time work session. It was of particular interest to those whose your ancestors may have come from the Carpatho-Rusyn villages of Stebnik, Chmelova/Komlosa, Becherov, or Regetivka, Slovakia. Attendees saw how the families of the early parishioners of St Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral in Minneapolis are intertwined.

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Body, Mind & Spirit: Our Carpatho-Rusyn Ancestors’ Approach to Health ​
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Guest speaker
Dr. Celia Hildebrand, DAOM, Lac
​Carpatho-Rusyn folk medicine perspectives, values and cultural significance.

Dr. Hildebrand is an assistant research professor at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona. She shared the story of how her maternal heritage informed a career that took her back to the Carpathian Mountain foothills to teach at the Uzhorod National University School of Medicine.
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Handout – Botanical Provenance of Traditional Medicines From Carpathian Mountains at the Ukrainian-Polish Border (Click here for more information)

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Freedom Seekers: The Story of My Carpatho-Rusyn Heritage From Galicia to the Iron Range of Minnesota

Link to recording (https://youtu.be/KsHEeKN2u8k)

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Interview with Slavo Mlynar, Mayor of Stebnik, Slovakia

Link to recording (