Ed Nice’s Guide To Dyngus Day In Buffalo

When it comes to ethnic festivals all over the nation, there's a saying that you hear people say quite a bit: during St. Patrick's Day, everyone is Irish, everyone is German during Oktoberfest, and so on. So with the arrival of Easter Monday, that means everyone is going to be Polish on Dyngus Day.

Very soon, thousands of Polish folks will descend on Buffalo's Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood to celebrate Polish history and culture; but, what is Dyngus Day and how do you celebrate it? Especially when you're not polish?

What Is Dyngus Day

The Polish-American festival always happens on the Monday after Easter, to celebrate the end of Lent. The day-long celebration honors polish heritage and tradition while giving people the opportunity to party and celebrate the lifting of the restrictions people followed during Lent. The day is filled with parades, parties, and polka music all over the nation.

Buffalo isn't the only city that celebrates Dyngus Day as other locations that have large Polish populations also observe the day.

So if you're going to celebrate Dyngus Day in Buffalo this year, what do you need to know?

Ed Nice's Guide To Dyngus Day In Buffalo

As someone who has lived in Buffalo's historic Polonia neighborhood and with Polish members in my family, I am quite aware of what to do and how to celebrate, but if this is all new to you, I have a breakdown of what you need to know and where you need to go. So grab your squirt guns and pussywillows and get ready:

• The Dyngus Day Dash, which is new this year, is a three-mile race through the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood, starting at noon near the Buffalo Central Terminal.
• The Dyngus Day Parade is set to kick off at 5:30 pm on Monday, April 21, 2025, with more than 125 floats that will on Memorial Drive and Broadway, then head west down Broadway towards downtown, passed the Broadway market, ending at Fillmore.
• There will be all sorts of Dyngus Day parties all over the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood.
  • The Dyngus Day mainstage will be set up near the Buffalo Central Terminal on Memorial Drive near Paderewski Drive
  • There will be shuttle busses that run between all of the different events during the Dyngus Day celebrations, you can find more information about them here.

As spring roll into full effect, the Dyngus Day celebrations is a great kickoff for festival season and a nice warmup to Juneteenth, another great festival that takes place in the same general area of Buffalo.