Annual Lithuanian Days festivities have returned to Barnesville, the village where they began 107 years ago.

On Saturday and Sunday, Catalpa Grove at Lakewood Park hosted proud folks of Lithuanian descent from all over the country for the 107th celebration of heritage.

“It’s the oldest ethnic festival in the U.S.,” said attorney Paul Domalakes, who welcomed the crowd at noon Saturday while wearing an honorary baldric-type sash in tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Knights of Lithuania.

“It’s exciting and it’s a challenge because this is a new venue,” he said, referring to the new layout of the park.

Still, he acknowledged, the festival had finally returned home.

“Lithuanian Days became synonymous with Lakewood Park.”

The two-day event drew many Lithuanian Americans wearing colorful garb of their homeland, a place where repression had once stifled voices of an entire region.

“Lithuania had been banished as a political entity,” Domalakes told the crowd.

Many expressed delight to see the festival return to Lakewood, where it was held for 58 years before the park closed in 1984. It then took place at several other sites.

The event began in 1914 just 1 mile away at Lakeside Park.

“This was our tradition,” said Ann Marie Wychunas-Martin of Pottsville. “We grew up here.”

Her sister, Carol Wychunas-Charlesworth of Minersville, felt a surge of emotion to walk along the streets of old Lakewood Park once again.

“This brings back so many memories.”

The event has a long history of strong attendance and a packed house.

“Someone actually had to come the night before and sleep on the tables just to get a table for the next day,” said Al Barnisky of Mahoning Valley, on hand with his wife, the former Linda Ormsby. Both have Lithuanian ancestry.

Barnisky noted that his name in the homeland would be Albin Barniskas.

“The names were changed at Ellis Island.”

Volunteer Elaine Luschas, a Mahanoy City native, has been involved in the festival at all of its locations.

“After the park closed in 1984, the festival continued at various locations, including the Frackville Schuylkill Mall. It closed in 2016.

“We then had to host the festival at the Annunciation Church in Frackville for three years, even having a virtual celebration in 2020,” she said.

It was started by the Lithuanian Catholic Priest League. The priests were troubled by problems met by incoming immigrants who faced poor living conditions and dangerous work in the mines.

The festival was intended to boost morale of former Eastern Europeans working in eastern Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal fields.

Today it’s presented by the Knights of Lithuania, Anthracite Council 144, and proceeds benefit Lithuanian charities.