For all things Polish, visitors will want to check out the 19th annual St. Maximilian Kolbe Roman Catholic Church Polish Festival and celebration Oct. 10-12 at 1735 Grand Ave. in Pacific Beach.
For $5, adults can attend one of Pacific Beach’s most popular ethnic festivals. The Polish celebration attracts people from all around San Diego, as well as international visitors, during its three-day stint.
“People wait for this all year, and many come from outside California just to be here in October,” said Father Jerzy Frydrych of Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe, who said the church’s mission is to serve the needs of San Diego’s Polish community.
The Polish Festival is a tribute to Polish heritage, culture and cuisine. The colorful event features Polish song, dance and food.
On the menu will be traditional Polish fare like pierogis (dumplings stuffed with sauerkraut or potato and cheese), golabki (meat-stuffed cabbage rolls), bigos (Hunter’s stew), potato pancakes and grilled kielbasa (Polish sausage), which are all worth the turnout. The festival menu is rounded out by Polish pastries and soft drinks, coffee and tea. There is also a beer garden for ages 21 and up, which will feature well-known Polish beers like Zywiec, Okocim and Warka.
Entertainers will include Polish folk-dance groups Polonez from San Diego and Piast from Las Vegas, as well as the Los Angeles-based Krakusy Polish Folk Dance Ensemble and Greg & Grace, a duo playing lively, Gypsy-style Eastern European music, including sentimental French and Italian favorites, Amercian standards and polka.
There will also be a polka band and a DJ entertaining festival guests.
Guided tours with veneration of church relics will be conducted that Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
 All money raised by the event benefit St. Maximilian Kolbe Church.
“Funds are used to renovate and beautify the church, including purchase of statues and  stained-glass windows,” said Father Frydrych, noting past improvements have included a new church sanctuary.
A member of The Society of Christ Fathers for Poles Living Abroad, Frydrych said San Diego’s far-flung Polish community is made up largely of Poles who emigrated from their native land during the Solidarity labor-union movement of the 1990s.
St. Maximilian was built in 1995 in Pacific Beach to serve the Polish community, and Frydrych has been there since 2005. He said church services are traditional, with Masses conducted in Polish.
“People prefer their national language during clergy,” Frydrych said.
There is also a Saturday service conducted in English.
The Polish Catholic church in PB is named for St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan friar and World War II-era hero who voluntarily sacrificed himself in the place of a stranger at the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp.
Kolbe provided shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including 2,000 Jews, whom he hid from Nazi persecution in his friary until he was arrested by the German Gestapo and imprisoned. While imprisoned, Kolbe volunteered to take the place of a man condemned to be starved to death. In his cell, Kolbe led men in songs and prayer. After three weeks of dehydration and starvation, only he and three others were still alive. He was murdered with an injection of carbolic acid.
The festival’s hours are 5 to 11 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 10, noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11 and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12.
For more information, visit http://www.polishmission.org/festival/index.php, or call (858) 272-7655.