Our Carpatho-Rusyn Day celebration is Oct. 22 in Merrillville, Ind.

The Lake Michigan Chapter of the Carpatho-Rusyn's second annual observance of Carpatho-Rusyn Day in North America is scheduled for Oct. 22 in Merrillville, Ind.

Here are the details:

A successful first Carpatho-Rusyn genealogical workshop

Arlene Drimak Gardiner and Ray Capek open the C-RS Lake Michigan Chapter's first genealogical workshop

On Sunday, Aug. 28, an unexpectedly large crowd of nearly 50 people gathered in the basement of the T.G. Masaryk School in the traditional Czech settlement of Cicero, Ill., for the first genealogical workshop sponsored by the Lake Michigan Chapter of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society.

It was held with the cooperation of the Czech and Slovak American Genealogy Association of Illinois.

Conducted by Lake Michigan Chapter board member Arlene Drimak Gardiner, the event offered basic information on researching Rusyn family history, and attendees were shown the resources of CSAGI's research library, located upstairs in the Masaryk School.

CSAGI president Ray Capek welcomed the crowd to our workshop, which is just the first effort in trying to offer people in our region researching their Rusyn heritage a way to seek advice, and share their own discoveries.

The northernmost Carpatho-Rusyn settlement in our region

I recently had a chance to pass through Cornucopia, Wis., the home of St. Mary's Orthodox Church, (OCA), which was formed in 1906 by Carpatho-Rusyns moving from Chicago to build a new life in Northern Wisconsin.

The church remains an active congregation, although it doesn't have a resident priest (during the warmer months, a priest visits from Minneapolis for monthly Sunday liturgies.)

You can find a little bit more about Cornucopia from Wikipedia, and from the Orthodox Church in America site's report on the parish's 100th anniversary.

The Wikipedia articles lists some of the Rusyn family names from Cornucopia: Kaseno, Celinsky, Sveda, Roman, and Pristash

August 15 deadline for our Rusyn genealogy workshop

You have until Aug. 15 to register for our first Rusyn Genealogy Workshop in Cicero:

An annual church festival in Homer Glen next weekend

The New York Times travels to Trans-Carpathia

The New York Times has discovered  our distinctive wooden churches in Ukraine's Trans-Carpathian region, posting a series of photos and an article about the architectural gems from the Rusyn heartland.

The article notes: "The area is also believed to have been the only province of the Soviet Union that was ever governed by an American, Gregory Zatkovich, an ethnic Rusyn — or Ruthenian — from Pittsburgh who was appointed governor in 1920 when the region was still part of Czechoslovakia."

Details of our Aug. 28th Carpatho-Rusyn genealogy workshop

Here's everything you need to know about the Lake Michigan Chapter of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society's upcoming workshop on Rusyn genealogy: