Friday
01September 18
4:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Opening night. Food stalls fire up, the dance floor opens, and the disco runs late.
Established 2006Our Lady of Czestochowa Roman Catholic ChurchHouston, Texas
Houston
Polish
Festival
Folk dance on the outdoor floor. The stage runs almost continuously across all three days.
September 18-20, 2026
Three days of authentic home-cooked Polish food, live music, folk dance, and a community that has been throwing this party for two decades.
Don't miss the next one
Be first to know when dates drop, when the program is published, and when the kitchen posts what it is cooking. A few emails a year, nothing else, ever.
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Free admission · Free offsite parking with a shuttle, or $20 on siteAll ages welcome
Plan your visit
Three days,
one address
Gates open Friday afternoon and the kitchen does not really stop until Sunday evening. Come for an hour or stay for the weekend.
Saturday
02September 19
10:00 am - 10:00 pm
The big one. Twelve hours of dance sets, raffles, contests and the full kitchen.
Sunday
03September 20
10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Mass, the opening ceremony, and a full afternoon of folk dance to close things out.
The grounds
Our Lady of Czestochowa
1731 Blalock Road, Houston, Texas 77080
Admission
Free
Walking through the gate costs nothing. Food, drinks and games run on tickets bought at the booth by the entrance.
Parking
Free
Free offsite parking, shuttle every 15 minutes
Park free at any of the lots below and ride the shuttle in. It runs every 15 minutes throughout opening hours, and all three are within a couple of blocks of the gate.
On-site parking $20.00 — Cash or card at the gate. Spaces on the church grounds are limited and fill early on Saturday.
What's on
Everything happening
on the grounds
Six things run all weekend. You will probably end up doing all of them.
The Kitchen
Pierogi, gołąbki, bigos and pork shank, cooked by parish volunteers from recipes that predate the festival itself.
Folk Dance
Near-continuous performance across all three days, from Krakowiak to Góralski, in full regional costume.
Silent Auction
One of the festival's most sought-after attractions, with handmade porcelain, jewelry, art and traditional costumes.
Raffles & Games
Musical chairs for kids and adults, the Miss & Mister Polonia Houston challenge, plus TV, grill and bike raffles.
Polish Recipe Beer
Baa Baa Brewhouse brews a beer to a Polish recipe just west of Katy, and pours it at the festival bar. You will not find it anywhere else.
Polish Market
Vendors selling imported goods, crafts, folk art and pantry staples you cannot easily find in Houston.
Catholic Mass
Saturday evening and Sunday morning Mass at Our Lady of Czestochowa, open to everyone at the festival.
Pierogi · Gołąbki · Bigos · Zapiekanka · Golonka · Kiełbasa · Placki ziemniaczane · Naleśniki ·
The kitchen
Food worth
the drive
Everything on the menu is cooked by parish volunteers in the days before the festival. This is the reason most people come back.
How tickets work
The festival runs on tickets, not cash at each stall. Buy a strip at the ticket booth near the entrance, then spend them anywhere: food, drinks, desserts and games all price in tickets.
- Ticket booths sit at the main entrance and beside the food tent.
- A full Polish Plate is 6 tickets, the most food for your money.
- Unused tickets can be spent at the silent auction table.
Polish Plate
Cabbage roll, hunter's stew, sausage and a mix of dumplings
6tickets
Pork Shank
Golonka
Slow-roasted until it falls off the bone
6tickets
Polish Street Pizza
Zapiekanka
Open-faced baked baguette, Poland's favorite street food
3tickets
Dumplings Plate
Pierogi
A mix of sauerkraut & mushroom, potato & cheese, and meat
3tickets
Home-made Dessert
Whatever came out of the parish kitchen that morning
1ticket
Polish Recipe Beer
Brewed to a Polish recipe by Baa Baa Brewhouse near Katy, and poured only at the festival.
2tickets
On stage
Who you'll
be watching
Folk ensembles, an accordion, a live band and a DJ who keeps the floor full between sets.
Folk dance ensembleHouston
Dance Group Wawel
The heart of the festival. Wawel dances the full regional repertoire (Krakowiak, Mazur, Oberek, Góralski) in costumes stitched to match each region of Poland.
Folk dance ensembleCanada
Polonia Regina
Visiting ensemble bringing Kaszubski, Bilgoraj and Beskid Śląski sets across the border for the weekend.
Dance groupHouston
Babcia Wawel
The grandmothers of the parish, and reliably the loudest applause of the weekend. Expect Polonez, Kan-Kan, and a routine called Nowoczesna Babcia.
DJ
DJ Polako
Keeps the floor moving between sets and runs the late-night dyskoteka.
Live band
Prez Windstar
Polish party classics and the disco that closes out Friday and Saturday night.
Accordion
Kamil Smela
Solo accordion sets, the sound most people mean when they say Polish music.
Polskie Przeboje
Edward Winiarski
A run through the Polish hits everyone in the tent already knows the words to.
Youth performanceHouston
Polish School of Houston
The next generation: students from the parish Polish school perform each afternoon.
Since 2006
Twenty years
of this
The Houston Polish Festival began in 2006 as a parish celebration of Poland's National Constitution Day, May 3rd, the anniversary of Europe's first written constitution. It has been held every year since.
What started as a church picnic now fills the grounds at Our Lady of Czestochowa for a full weekend: a kitchen running at capacity, a stage that barely stops, folk ensembles flying in from as far as Canada, and several thousand people who come back every year.
The September edition, the Polish Harvest Festival, carries the same spirit into the fall, with the same kitchen, the same dancers, and the same open invitation. You do not need to be Polish. You just need to be hungry.
20
Years running
3
Days of festival
18+
Dishes on the menu
60+
Performances
Past festivals
Color, noise,
and a lot of food
Moments from previous years: the dancers, the volunteers, and the silent auction table that people plan their whole visit around.
Have photos from a past festival? We would love to feature them, so send them over and we will add them here.
Good to know
Questions,
answered
The things people email us about every year.
Stay in the loop
Don't miss the next one
Be first to know when dates drop, when the program is published, and when the kitchen posts what it is cooking. A few emails a year, nothing else, ever.
- Dates for the next festival, the moment they are set
- The full program and performer line-up when it is published
- What the kitchen is making, and when to come hungry
September 18-20, 2026
Polish Harvest Festival · Free admission
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September 2026
We'll save you
a plate
September 18-20, 2026 at Our Lady of Czestochowa Roman Catholic Church. Free to walk in, $20 to park, and about as much pierogi as you can carry.
Polish Food · Folk Dance · Live Music · Silent Auction · Free Admission · All Ages ·