WASHINGTON UKRAINIAN FESTIVAL
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Annual Washington Ukrainian Festival in Silver Spring, MD, since 2003 Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Silver Spring, Maryland.
This page was created by Ukrainian Washington and is dedicated to Washington Ukrainian Festival held annually in September on the ground of St.
You know the food is good when people are driving in from Pennsylvania and New Jersey just to eat it.
Grilled meats, smoked meats, holubtsi, varenyky, borsch, salo, bigos and a cold b**r to wash it all down.
For some people, the Festival is a chance to share the food they grew up with. For others, it’s their first real taste of Ukraine.
Either way, this was a good place to be hungry.
What does Ukraine mean to you?
We asked people at the festival, and honestly, the answers got us a little emotional.
For some, it’s home. For some, it’s family. For others, it’s the language, the food, the memories, the traditions or just a feeling that’s hard to explain.
Here’s what they had to say.
Thanks to everyone who stopped for a minute, shared their story, and let us into a little piece of their world.
This year, the Washington Ukrainian Festival featured five exhibitions, each giving visitors a different way to see and understand Ukraine.
One of the moments that really stayed with us was watching an artist cut a Tree of Life from a single sheet of paper, right in front of us.
It turned out to be a perfect symbol for everything happening around it.
Jonathan Brook's “Defenders Without Weapons” brought visitors face to face with Ukrainian first responders - people who run toward danger to rescue and save others.
The 70 Ukrainian rushnyky from the private collection of George P. Kent and Velida Kitaina Kent connected us with generations of Ukrainian tradition, with stories and symbols carried forward through embroidery.
“The Paper Path of the Soul,” by Volha Palunisa and dedicated to Ukrainian artist Daria Alyoshkina, showed how something as simple as paper can hold memory, identity and tradition.
And “35 Years of Ukraine’s Independence,” created by the Institute of Judaica (Ukraine) with support from the DAR Charitable Foundation (Ukraine) and the DAAR Foundation (U.S.), invited visitors to walk through the lived experience of Ukraine during the war.
The fifth exhibition featured powerful photographs of the damage to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra after a Russian drone strike. We shared that story in a separate post.
Five exhibitions. Five different perspectives. But underneath all of them was the same story: where you come from, what you carry forward, what you survive, and what you refuse to let disappear.
Maybe that’s why the Tree of Life felt so right. Deep roots. Strong branches. And a story that keeps growing
09/28/2026
Today we want to take a moment to shine a light on the people who make the Washington Ukrainian Festival happen.
This Festival runs 100% on volunteers. Dozens of people give their time, energy, and skills to make these three days possible - and so much of what they do happens behind the scenes.
Our volunteers clean the grounds, prepare food, set up electricity, organize refrigeration, make decorations, run and film the program, paint faces, braid hair, help visitors, and take care of countless other details.
And when the Festival ends, the work doesn’t stop. There’s still a full week of cleanup ahead.
There’s also a bigger reason we keep doing this.
Russia has turned Ukraine into a place where war crimes are happening every day. While Ukrainians are fighting for their country and their lives, we’re doing everything we can from here to help. A portion of the Festival proceeds goes to support Ukraine and provide humanitarian aid where it’s needed most.
We want to introduce you to the incredible people who keep this Festival going year after year.
If we missed you in the photos, please send us your picture - we want to include you too.
And to every volunteer who gives their time and energy to make this Festival happen: thank you. We truly couldn’t do it without you.
Our American guests kept telling us that Ukrainians really know how to dance.
We heard them.
We took notes.
And then we made this video.
For scientific purposes, obviously
09/25/2026
One thing we’ve heard again and again since the Festival: “It felt like home.”
And honestly, hearing that means more than we can say.
Maybe it was the food, the music, the Ukrainian language, the familiar faces or just being surrounded by people who support Ukraine and stand with us.
Thank you for being part of it.
We’re still going through about 8,000 photos, so stay with us. We’ll be sharing more moments, photos and videos from the weekend over the next few days.
09/25/2026
This year, one of the Washington Ukrainian Festival’s most meaningful exhibitions almost didn’t make it to Silver Spring.
The photographs were coming from Kyiv. They arrived at the last possible moment, after a journey that involved more than a little uncertainty and made it to the festival just in time.
The photographs, taken by Father Andrii Sydor Андрій Сидор, documented the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on a night when nearly a thousand years of history met the reality of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
In the early hours of June 15, 2026, a Russian drone struck the Dormition Cathedral at the Lavra.
Andrii’s photographs captured the cathedral in flames after the strike, followed by images of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service rescuers working to repair the damage.
We displayed those photographs at the festival.
The Lavra has stood for nearly a thousand years. Its churches and caves have witnessed generations of Ukrainians come to pray. It has survived rulers, wars and empires that once seemed permanent.
And then, in a single night, a Russian drone came through the sky.
Sometimes a photograph does something a caption cannot.
It makes you stop.
It makes a place feel real.
And it reminds you that history isn’t only something that happened long ago.
History is happening right in front of us.
We asked our visitors at the Washington Ukrainian Festival to try saying a few Ukrainian words.
Some absolutely nailed them.
And obviously we had to throw "palyanytsia" in there.
During the early months of russia’s full-scale invasion, palyanytsia became kind of a Ukrainian code word because it’s notoriously difficult for russian speakers to pronounce correctly.
So, naturally, we had to see how our Festival visitors would do
Ukraine took over the DMV this weekend. 🇺🇦🇺🇸
Thousands of people. “Slava Ukraini!” coming from the crowd.
To everyone who stands with Ukraine - THANK YOU!
09/21/2026
Three days. Thousands of people.
Huge thank you to YOU - our longtime Festival people and everyone who came for the first time - for showing up, celebrating with us, and standing with Ukraine.
We’re still going through roughly 8,000 photos, so you’ll be seeing Festival pics and videos here for the next few days.
We’re definitely not ready to let it go yet.
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15100 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring, MD
20905
Opening Hours
| Friday | 5am - 9pm |
| Saturday | 11am - 9pm |
| Sunday | 11am - 9pm |
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