Ironworld hosts its last Polkafest
May 2, 2008Ironworld to host Polkafest one more time
CHISHOLM, Minn. June 27-29, 2008 marks the last time Ironworld will host Polkafest, an event that came to the site in the 1980s at the request of Governor Rudy Perpich. Prior to that, Polkafest had been held at various locations, including Pine City, Quadna Mountain, Duluth and Hinckley.
The three-day festival will be relocated in 2009 by its founder, musician and promoter Florian Chmielewski. Chmielewski is currently exploring other northeastern Minnesota venues to host Polkafest.
Though the event has been hosted at Ironworld for the past two decades, the name, trademark and by extension, the event, belong to the Chmielewski family. In recent months, Chmielewski expressed to Ironworld his desire to explore ways to re-invigorate Polkafest, attendance to which has declined since its heyday in the 1980s. Similarly, Ironworld recognized the need to maintain the high quality of the event, and understands an alternative venue for Polkafest 2009 is in the best interest of all parties.
?Ironworld continues to evolve as the institution becomes more focused on offering a world-class museum experience,? said Steve Harsin, Ironworld Chief Operations Officer. ?While we have been honored to provide a fun and exciting venue for Polkafest, all parties are aware that changing demographics and trends in the polka and entertainment industries indicate a new approach is in order.?
The mutual decision to relocate Polkafest positions the event to succeed for many more years. About Chmielewski, Harsin added, ?Ironworld recognizes our facility and Mr. Chmielewski have truly had a unique and productive relationship. We know he reciprocates our goodwill toward him personally and Polkafest as an event.?
Chmielewski will make a formal announcement of Polkafest?s 2009 location at a later date. ?I want to say, from the bottom of my heart, a sincere thank you to all the staff of Ironworld,? Chmielewski said. ?They are wonderful people and professional all the way along the line. They?ve been great to work with for 20 years.?
Ironworld plans to make a special effort to celebrate Polkafest ?one more time,? with special activities and collectible memorabilia. ?Polkafest will leave Ironworld on a ?high note,? with many good memories for all of us,? Harsin said.
According to Chmielewski, America?s polka king Frankie Yankovic says, ?From the days of regency in England to the ballrooms in Vienna, the dance halls in Paris and the classical and ballet productions of Johannes Strauss, the polka is the happiest music in the whole wide world!? That has certainly been true over the years at Ironworld and will undoubtedly be the case in the future.
Overlook Gallery remodeled
Jan 1, 2008
Following an extensive remodeling project, Ironworld's Observation Area will officially reopen in January as a gallery for traveling exhibits. The space, more than 3,000 square feet on two levels, overlooks the former Glen Mine.
The first exhibit to be housed in the new gallery is "Requiem: By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina." It will be in the lower level gallery space January 26 through April 20, 2008.
Requiem includes 290 moving and powerful images of the Vietnam War, taken by photojournalists who were killed or reported missing while covering the conflict.
This is the first time the collection has been exhibited in Minnesota.
Requiem encompasses images taken by men and women on both sides who gave their lives while on the job during the conflict, which began with the French Indochina War of the 1950s, and culminated with the fall of Phnom Penh and Saigon in 1975.
The photographs were among the thousands gathered by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Horst Faas, and freelance photographer Tim Page. The men, who were both wounded in Vietnam, decided that the works of famous photojournalists like Robert Capa and Larry Burrows would hang alongside those of unknown photographers who contributed significant pictures before dying.
Ironworld, the regions largest museum complex, brings this exhibit to northeastern Minnesota as a way of honoring veterans and their families. Through engaging programming -- including lectures, panel discussions and films -- we hope to provide a forum for understanding not only how Vietnam shaped a generation, but how that experience and the wars that followed continue to impact our lives.
Requiem: By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina, is traveling under the auspices of George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film.