I B8 THE LIVINGSTON PARISH NEWS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2013 ___Hungarian Harvest Dance

The 117th Hungar-ian Harvest Dance and Festival was held Oct. 5 at the American Legion Hall in Springfield.

Following a welcome by Arpadhon Hungarian Settlements Cultural Association president Wayne Kreko, Deacon John Vernon of St. Mar-garet Catholic Church gave the opening prayer, Suzie Green McMorris sang the “Star Spangled Banner” and Gyula Szita sang the Hungar-ian National Anthem.

Entertainment in-cluded, Hungarian Folk Songs by Victoria Moc-sary, Megan Green, Su-zie Green McMorris and Christina Mocsary and a performance of several traditional dances by costumed folk dancers,

Steven Good, Tonya King Kirkland, Trey Latino, Emily Anthony, Barbara Robinson, Rebekah Graef, Haley Carver, Meagan Riggs, Katherine Green, Megan Green, Brandley Shultz, Carolyn Shultz, Joy Good, Heather Degan-hardt, Tammy Miller Brenna Miller, Saman-tha Green, Breanna Carver, Joey Bates, Kay-lee Demars, Luke Erdey and Brooklynn Smith, who were instructed and coordinated by Nichole King McMorris.

As is customary, Timmy Olah auctioned off wine, which was donated by Pete Pffifner. Public dancing followed to the music of Ernest Breaux and his Poo-Yai Band.

A brief history of Hungarian Settlement printed in the program reads:

“Our community began in 1896, when the first Hungarian settlers came to this area. Our founding fathers worked in the Brackenriddge Lumber Mil and bought cut over timberland to far and raise strawber-ries. The first named their community Árpádhon in honor of Árpád, the legendary 9th century founder of Hungary.

“By the 1930s, the popularion of our com-munity had grown to about two hundred families and became known as Hungarian Settlement. In 1975 it was proclaimed by the Louisiana Tourist Comission as the “larg-est rural Hungarian settlement in the United States.

“The Árpádhon Hun-garian Settlement Cul-tural Association was organized in 1976 with the primary function of preserving the Hungar-ian (Magyar) culture of this area.”

Membership in AH-SCA is just $5 a year.

LISA DOWTY | THE NEWS

Dressed in traditional costume, Hungarian Settlement dancers perform several traditional harvest dances at the 117th anniversary of Hungarian Settlement.

LISA DOWTY | THE NEWS

Dressed in traditional costume, Hungarian Settlement dancers perform several tradi-tional harvest dances.

LISA DOWTY | THE NEWS

At left, April Wascom takes pictures of the Hungarian Harvest Danc-ers with a cell phone while sitting with her uncle, Anthony Santan-gelo; and Orene Lea dish-es up a plate of cabbage rolls topped with tomato sauce, a Hungarian fa-vorite. Below, Lila Hogan enjoys a pecan kifli, a Hungarian cookie made by Kathleen Mocsary.