A century later, six ethnic clubs in Barberton still surviving
By Paula Schleis, The Akron Beacon Journal | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Cornfields gave way to a bustling community, and ethnic organizations quickly set up shop to help the foreigners succeed in their new homeland.
The city hasn't been a magnet for immigrants in decades, and yet six clubs with
Just don't look too hard for the ethnic connection.
Otherwise, it's a sports bar with a full-service kitchen, alternating between a mellow afternoon hangout and a bustling cheap-wings night.
Gone are the days of cultural singing and dancing groups. More likely the clubs are sponsoring a softball team or a darts league.
Even club leadership defies ethnic ties. The Liedertafel's president,
"I never expected when I came in here for the first time I would become president," Damsa said, chuckling at his ascension from guest to president in only six years.
The clubs let go of labels long ago, Sokol President
"You have to have an open mind, and open doors," he said, "or you're gonna die."
The past
Foreigners came to
"There were so many jobs, people said if you got mad and quit a job in the morning, you could be working somewhere else in the afternoon,"
Right on their heels were regional ethnic organizations that established local chapters to sell insurance to their respective populations.
That was a huge deal for people who had moved thousands of miles away from their network of support, a time before
"Primarily they wanted an organization that would raise funding by charging members a modest cost, and then provide them with accident coverage," said
The advocates also helped families transition to a world that was far different from their Old World farming villages.
"They didn't know how to speak English, but they also didn't know about banking or how to shop in a grocery store," said
Eventually, the organizations began to open up social clubs that became anchors in their neighborhoods -- "a place where people would come and exercise their heritage," Gabrosek said.
The present
As people assimilated into the great American melting pot, one's "culture" became harder to define. Today's young adults might share only a fraction of the ethnicity of their great-grandparents.
Understandably, the original mission of the social groups faded.
While some clubs still provide insurance to voting lodge members, it's not a big selling point for most.
Their facilities mostly are supported by "social" tier members who pay annual dues of
"Gone are the days when PPG let out and the workers would come in and cash their checks and drink all day," said the
The one demographic that has been the hardest to diversify is age, though some clubs have been more successful than others.
At the
President
Some of the other clubs offer typical "bar food" during limited hours, but "having a kitchen open seven days a week distinguishes us from the others," Wladyczak said.
The private club in the Slovene Center has perhaps 150 or so members, mostly in their 60s and up. But the building continues to fill a niche because of its ballroom, rented publicly for everything from wedding receptions and business meetings to reunions and sports banquets.
Over at the Sokol, Macko said the club has added about 300 members in the past few years, and most of them are younger than 50.
"There was a time when membership was dwindling, and if I walked in the club I brought the average age down 15 years," the 38-year-old Macko said. "We aren't worried about dying off anymore."
At the GBU, Stone said it is a constant challenge to bring in new people: "A lot of older members grew up knowing about the GBU from their parents. Now we have to work to get the word out."
Still, the social clubs don't market themselves. While they open to the public once a year during the annual Pub Crawl, an
"We want a club where people feel they are safe and they can call it their own," the Sokol's Macko said. "We want them to think: 'This is my place. This is where we want to be.'?"
Private clubs have it over public bars because "you don't have to worry about someone getting fresh with your wife or your girlfriend," Liedertafel President
The future
Club presidents say they don't take the future for granted.
"We're holding our own, but I wouldn't say any of the clubs are 'thriving,'?" said the
The clock might be ticking the fastest for the tiny
Regulars love their watering hole and the longtime friends who greet them each time they walk through the door.
"They're family; good-hearted people," said
On a recent afternoon, she hugged a corner of the bar with two other members, the only customers of barmaid
Most of the Jednota's 50 lodge members are in nursing homes, Jenkins said. And while nearly 400 social members have paid dues to the club this year, that's half of what it was a decade ago.
It's rare to see more than half a dozen people in the bar at any time, and the busiest it will get is perhaps 20 or so for the weekly raffle drawing when attendance is required to win.
"We're struggling now to keep it open," acknowledged board member
While the clubs are, by and large, simply bars, some are owned by organizations who still have charity at heart.
GBU's parent, in
"The last few years, a few of us from the
Last year, it also held a fundraiser for victims of a neighborhood flood.
"We're part of the community on the west side," Macko said, "and we feel obligated to be there for the people."
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