The popular Cleveland Dyngus Day celebration will return for its 16^th year this Monday, April 6, with its usual favorites in Gordon Square Arts District—live music and other entertainment on two stages, pierogi eating contests, and the crowning of Miss Dyngus Day 2026—as well as a couple of new celebrations.

Celebrating Dyngus Day in Gordon SquareSome may call it Wet Monday or Śmigus-Dyngus, but April 6 is Easter Monday, and many Clevelanders will take the day to celebrate Polish culture and blow off a little bit of steam after observing Lent.

The indoor-outdoor celebration returns to the streets in Gordon Square, but this year the celebration will expand beyond Gordon Green and close Detroit Avenue from West 54th Street through West 58th Street.

DJ Kishka, the nationally renowned polka personality who has become synonymous with Dyngus Day in Cleveland, is returning again this year as emcee. He says he is particularly excited about this year’s event.

"This is the first year that I've got a band together and we're doing a set,” he says. “So that's going to be fun.”

Kishka’s new band, Da Kishkas, will perform on the Street Stage on Detroit Avenue. "I got everyone wearing beards and hats and they all got a bunch of funny names,” he says. “So that'll be fun. We've been rehearsing for that and we're doing a set at 4pm."

The musical lineup will also feature traditional favorites including the Chardon Polka Band, Don Wojtila, Ed Rodick, Johnny Koenig, and Da Land Brass Band, among others.

In an unusual twist, this year's celebration will include a wedding ceremony. "Someone's going to get married at Dyngus Day,” Kishka says. “So that's a new thing happening, which will be fun.

Traditional and not-so-traditional events
The celebration will maintain its beloved traditions, including the pierogi eating contest. “It’s not like how many can you eat in a minute,” Kishka explains. “They give everybody a dozen or something, and [the contestants] have to eat them the fastest. I think they eat them in like three minutes, maybe three-and-a-half minutes or something like that.”

DJ Krishna welcomes the Miss Dyngus Day contenders.Kishka says they do have to limit the number of participants in the contest for supply reasons.

“I think 35 people applied, and we're like, we can't have 35,” he explains. “The poor Pierogi Lady who's supplying the pierogies is going to be like, cut it off, you know. So I think we are going to cut it down to 10.”

Kishka says they also have had to limit the number of Miss Dyngus Day contestants, as the pageant has become popular.

“We have a lot of people that apply,” he explains. “Sometimes I'll just call them all up on stage. And then all the [past] Miss Dynguses will choose the next Miss Dyngus Day.”

The opening ceremony has some unusual Dyngus Day traditions. "We do the national anthems and then we do a little poem about spring in Polish,” Kishka says. “Obviously, I don't say it in Polish, I recite it. And then we do the first polka dance of spring."
And then things get really unique.
Guests celebrate Dyngus Day in many ways.“A friend of mine rolls out this chicken sculpture that has all these old feathers on it,” Kishka explains. “And then we burn off the old winter feathers for the new feathers. So that's the kind of a fun things we do.”

But Kishka says the opening ceremony fun is just starting.

“A good friend of mine who's been doing this for 10 years, Doug Kusak, reads “Twas the Night Before Dyngus”—he has a whole shtick about that,” Kishka laughs, adding that he asked to go up on stage and read his poem one year and it quickly became a tradition.

“He's been doing it for years,” Kishka recalls. “He read it and it's hilarious. So I have him read it two or three times, usually throughout the day.”

Despite Cleveland's unpredictable spring weather, Kishka remains optimistic because the current report calls for a nice Dyngus Day. "We've had all sorts of Dyngus Days throughout the years, so, the party goes on whether it’s rain or shine."

Kishka adds that the celebration will continue on Tuesday, April 7, as the Guardians have invited Kishka and his team to “do a little Dyngus Day parade around the bases for their game,” he says. “And I get to throw out the first pitch. So that'll be a fun little adventure, too.”

Weather and baseball aside, Kishka says Dyngus Day is always a good time. "There's just such a good feeling in the air—everybody's there to have a good time, have fun, laugh, and be silly or dance, or whatever it is,” he says. “It's indescribable."

Several blocks of Detroit Avenue will be closed for Dyngus Day on Monday, April 6, which runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Live music will be on the Street Stage on Detroit Avenue as well as a stage behind Gordon Green. The full schedule is available on the Dyngus Day site. Tickets are $14 for guests age 13 and older, kids 12 and younger have free admission.