TORONTO - Wasyl Eleniak probably wouldn’t have wanted to be the centre of attention.
But Eleniak’s granddaughter, Mildred Lemiski said he likely would have felt right at home during Toronto’s Ukrainian Festival Saturday with the smell of food in the air, lively music pumping in the background and a big crowd enjoying it all together.
“He believed in community,” she said. “But back then, these gatherings would have been a lot smaller.”
Mildred, and her daughter Karen Jean, flew from their homes near Edmonton to act as festival parade marshals and help officially open the festival. Sept. 7 was the 120th anniversary of the first settlement of Ukrainians in Canada and Eleniak was amongst that small group to make the difficult voyage.
