At the beginning of the Moravian days festival,  Jim Durkin, Republican leader and a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, presented   a greeting  from Bruce Rauner, the Governer of Illinois, who once again declared September 20th as  the  Moravian day.

A number of attendees arrived from distant areas of the USA,  including the  winners of the Czech and Slovak Miss pageants  from several American states. The winner of the nationwide Miss pageant, Meagan Kurmel, was also present.

A world renowned opera star from the Czech Republic, Mr. Adam Plachetka, who will be opening the new season at the Lyric Opera of Chicago with the production of The Marriage of Figaro as Figaro was also among the attendees of this festival.

The Consul General of the Czech Republic in Chicago Mr. Borek Lizec presented his speech  where he expressed his  sincere thanks to the United Moravian Societies for the support of the Czech Republic. He also thanked the teachers at  the UMS school and pre-school. The high quality of these programs  was recognized even by the Members of the Commitee for Education, Science, Culture, Human Rights and Petitons  of the Senate of the Czech Republic.

Every year UMS brings Moravian brass bands to perform. This year they brought the wonderful Olga Baričičová and Lukáš Prajka band to Chicago.

Once again, BIG thank you to the United Moravian Societies . We are very pleased that even this year  a part of the Moravian Days festival was  funded  from the Czech Government program supporting Czech communities in foreign countries.

                                                                                              

Thank you to Míša Polashek for all the beautiful pictures.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the 77th Annual Moravian Days next year!