The Croatian Cultural Society of Victoria donated $1,000 to the Salvation Army. The donation is from the proceeds of CCSV’s CROfest which cultural festival was held on May 4 and 5 in Victoria.

Thank you again to all our sponsors, supporters, and volunteers who helped make our first CROfest a tremendous success!

       At a meeting on May 30, CROfest survey results were shared with the participants and the results are included below for your information.

       The post-CROfest survey was emailed to 60+ volunteers and another survey aimed at CROfest attendees was also posted on the CCSV and CROfest Facebook pages. There were 29 respondents to the volunteer survey and 10 respondents to the attendees survey.

In our last newsletter, we thanked and acknowledged all CROfest sponsors and donors. In this supplemental edition, we acknowledge and thank all our hardworking volunteers who brought us CROfest. Thank you, also, to the parish council of St. Leopold Mandić and Fr. Mogomir Kikić for their support.

The Croatian Cultural Society of Victoria (CCSV) council members that initiated and planned CROfest include:

 Read more here.

Our first CROfest was held on Saturday and Sunday, May 4 and 5 and by all accounts, it was a big success! We had about 3,000 people visit the event over two days.

This mini-festival featured Croatian food, music, dance, and artifacts, and also included dance and music performances from other ethnic groups in our community. We were delighted to have shared the stage with Ghana, Ireland, Mexico, Portugal, The Philippines, Hungary, and China. Dansko Studios livened things up with upbeat dancing and the Balkan Babes’ beautiful voices were a delight, as was the music from the Adriatic Express, Obala, and Croaton bands.

Thank you to all who worked tirelessly to bring the event to Victoria—we had over 70 volunteers at the event, as well as others who worked for months behind the scenes to put in place the details required for a successful event.

Read more here.

“CROfest is not only a way to showcase the Croatian culture in Victoria, but it’s also a way to integrate all cultures in Canada. Participants at CROfest will get to experience multicultural performances while enjoying genuine Croatian hospitality,” said Herv Kegalj, president of the Croatian Cultural Society of Victoria.

Source: Crighton, Kendra. “New festival celebrating Croatian culture to be held in Victoria.” Victoria News, Black Press Media, April 24, 2019, http://www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/mla-format/how-to-cite-a-website-mla/ .

The duet of Christian and Austin from Klapa Samoana (coming to us direct from New Zealand) will perform live at our New Year’s Eve event on December 31. Enjoy music and songs in Croatian, English and Samoan.

         A separate venue at the hall including supervised age-appropriate activities will be available for children and teens. Parents, bring your children to this family-friendly event and enjoy family time while also enjoying carefree ‘alone’ time!

 Read more here.

Our AGM was held on October 7 and resulted in four new committee members joining the team.

         Welcome to Stephanie Kalabric in the events portfolio (returning to the group from her last post as president in 2017), Dunja Ghag as secretary, Roko Nikolić as treasurer and Jakelina Listeš in communications (albeit with a key role in fundraising).

         Thank you to all those that attended the AGM and  voted for our new council.

         One of the key items discussed during the AGM was the question of membership. Our new bylaws define a member as anyone who meets one or more of the following criteria:

 Read more here.

Since our last update, CCSV has been very busy. On February 24, several people from our community attended the Victoria Welcome Day Celebration for immigrants and refugees. Society members wore traditional costumes, walked in a fashion show, and sold Croatian baked goods.

In March, the CCSV hosted an afternoon social in the St. Leopold church hall. Many parishioners and community members joined us in lively conversation, playing board games, and cards. This was a lot of fun for those that attended and we look forward to future similar events.

Read more here.

We are happy to announce that “Croatian Language School #65 and Croatian Folklore Group Zagreb Society” has changed its name to the Croatian Cultural Society of Victoria (or CCSV). While a shorter and easier name to remember, it continues to have a huge role in our community!

The council that started out in September 2017 as a group of five has expanded to eight and includes director roles not only for the language school, but also for folklore, sports, and a women’s guild.

Read more here.