Draugas News

07/22/2024

Make the most of your summer—don't miss the Beverly Shores, IN American Lithuanian Club annual picnic on August 10. Enjoy the beach in the morning and Lithuanian food and traditions in the afternoon. Participate in the Pink Soup competition! This picnic keeps getting better and better every year!

07/12/2024

Two Summer Festivals!!! Don't miss them. The traditional summer picnic at the Immaculate Conception Center in Putnam, CT, is on July 21, and the new Camp Neringa Festival in Brattleboro, Vermont, is on August 4. There will be Lithuanian Food, dancing, and crafts. You can meet up with long-lost friends and make some new ones. You can also purchase the new Neringa cookbook, Skanaus!
For details visit Neringa.org.

07/09/2024

The American Lithuanian Club of Beverly Shores in Indiana is growing. Over 150 revelers attended the 2nd annual Joninės (held in Lituanica Park in Beverly Shores). Guests came from all over, including Lithuania, Florida, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Chicagoland. Dr. Jonas Prunskis, the Consul General from Florida, was in attendance. Everyone had fun making head wreaths from wildflowers and oak leaves and enjoying Lithuanian food and drink.

There is still a lot of summer left:
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!! Everyone is invited to the annual Summer Picnic in Lituanica Park on August 10th. Stay tuned for the details.

Photos by Audronė (Audrey) Kižys

07/09/2024

Vilnius: a foodie paradise? Who knew? Enjoy :)

Vilnius is my new favourite food city in the world. It's a bold statement, I know. But Vilnius food culture is good enough to get me to come back to a city w...

07/09/2024

Sigute Miller's one-woman show in Michiana, Michigan, on July 27 has been canceled.

07/06/2024

Watch Lithuanian Song Fest through Youtube

Visą laidos vaizdo įrašą rasite apsilankę lrt.lt portale:https://www.lrt.lt/mediatekaLRT © 2024

07/06/2024

Watch the 100-year anniversary Lithuanian Song Festival Online.

Dainų šventės „Šimtmečio studija“ 2024.07.06 18:25

06/30/2024

The week-long Lithuanian Song Festival has begun! Watch its first concert in Kaunas.

Dainų diena Kaune „Miškais kalnai žaliuoja“. Ved. Gerūta Griniūtė. Tiesioginė transliacija iš Kauno ... 2024.06.29 21:13

06/14/2024

Are you traveling to Lithuania this summer? Consider sampling the country's best restaurants. The Michelin guide offers some impressive suggestions.

Discover the first restaurants to be added to the selection, from Michelin Stars and great value Bib Gourmands to sustainable Green Stars

06/11/2024

Unlock the secrets of Lithuanian church records written in Russian
The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture is offering an online seminar on genealogy research. On June 14, resident genealogy expert Karilė Vaitkutė will conduct a workshop on how to read Lithuanian birth, marriage, and death records written in Russian, which are found in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives.

Date: June 14th
Time: 6-7pm CDT
Location: Online via Zoom

The event is free for Museum Genealogy members.

Non-genealogy members register through Eventbrite for $25 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-read-lithuanian-birth-marriage-and-death-records-written-in-russia-tickets-920387121657?aff=oddtdtcreator

Genealogy members should contact [email protected] for access to free admission.

06/08/2024

Enjoy St John's Day—Lithuanian Joninės in Beverly Shores, IN. Enjoy Lithuanian food, a bonfire, wreath-making, singing and dancing on the longest day of the year.

06/08/2024

Sign up for Roots! More info will be in the next issue of Draugas News.

06/07/2024

Come meet painter and mural artist Linas Kaziulionis, on Saturday, June 8 at 4 pm at the opening of his painting exhibit at the Lithuanian Center (JC's) 5600 S Claremont in Chicago. Kaziulionis is transforming the Čiurlionis Art Gallery! He is renowned in Lithuania for his impressive murals – check out his work!

06/01/2024

Chicago Lithuanian Center - JC's INVITES YOU to a
PICNIC & PINK SOUP FEST
----------------------------------------
Sun., June 9th, 12:30 pm
5620 S. Claremont Ave., Chicago

Lithuanian PINK SOUP is all the rage. Make your favorite family version of cold beet soup - Šaltibarščiai and bring a bowl to the picnic so everyone can have a taste. In addition to taste testing, there will be a Bar, Drinks and Food for purchase. And lots of fun. Registration: [email protected]

05/29/2024

Learn how to make cepelinai. Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago is offering a hands-on course!

Join us in person for our Cepelinai cooking class on Friday, June 7th at 6PM at the museum.

Limited seating so register while tickets are still available!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cepelinai-cooking-class-tickets-899399316567?aff=oddtdtcreator

05/29/2024

Watch the works of Lithuanian mystic visionary, M.K. Čiurlionis, come to life in this one-of-a-kind virtual reality show. You can now experience it in Michiana, Michigan, on Sunday, June 2. Call or write in advance to reserve your spot. Sorry, no walk-ins.

05/26/2024

Spring Art & Craft Fair on May 19, 2024, at the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont Illinois. What a great day. Photos by Audrone (Audrey) Kizys

05/16/2024

Sugužėjo sveteliai = The guests have arrived. Everyone is invited to an evening of Lithuanian folk dances on June 1 at 6 p.m. at the Estonian House in Riverwoods, IL (Riverwoods is located in NW Illinois). Five groups will perform, among them Pūga (which means blizzard!) from Minnesota. Come out and support their efforts!

05/16/2024

🏐 The Lithuanian American Youth Assn (JAV LJS) invites everyone in the Chicagoland area to join us on June 2nd at Four Lakes Sand Volleyball Courts (5750 Lakeside Dr, Lisle, IL 60532) from 11am- 3pm for fun/tournament styled sand volleyball games! There will be food catered to the courts😋, and ALL SKILLS LEVELS, ages 16+ are welcome! To register, make sure to fill out the google form here: https://forms.gle/N1JgKX1ZKHT4xC7y6. See you there!

05/15/2024

Take a Chicago Fireboat Tour on Lake Michigan and support the Chicago Lithuanian Center, or as some of you know it, JCs or Jaunimo Centras. Take the trip every month – bring your family, your graduates, your significant others.

05/12/2024

Spring Fest at the Lithuanian World Center in Lemont, IL. Sunday, May 19, 10 am to 4 pm. Visit the DRAUGAS booth for unique gift ideas and get sample issues of our publications: DRAUGAS & DRAUGAS NEWS (English) and LITHUANIAN HERITAGE magazine (English).

05/12/2024

The Lithuanian Rusnė Folk Dance group will be performing at the Skokie, Illinois, Festival of Cultures. Come out and cheer them on. Rusnė is scheduled to perform on Saturday, May 18 at 1:10 pm.
You will find the full schedule here: https://www.skokieculturefest.org/
It's great weekend fun for the entire family!

05/07/2024

May 18th is International Museum Day. Visit the Lithuanian Research Center's three museums at JC's.
JC's = Jaunimo Centras = the Lithuanian Center at 5620 S Claremont in Chicago.

05/06/2024

The 52nd Baltimore Lithuanian Festival is on Saturday and Sunday, May 11 and 12, 2024, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday night only, Aldegunda performs from 6 p.m. to midnight. This year’s festival will feature a variety of vendors selling traditional Lithuanian food and drink, folk arts and crafts, jewelry, and more. Traditional music and dance performances will also be featured throughout the festival.

04/29/2024

Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian made her debut at the Met in NYC on Friday, April 26, in Puccini's Madame Butterfly. The New York Times critic Joshua Barone gushed about her performance: "...the Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian, a fiercely intelligent and captivating singer ... made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera on Friday. She comes to New York having already reached star status abroad, and it didn’t take long in “Butterfly” to see why." Asmik was supported by a sizeable contingent of Lithuanian fans, including diplomats: Amb to the UN Rytis Paulauskas, Amb to the US Audra Plepytė, Gen Consul in Chicago Sigrida Mulevičienė, Honorary Consul Krista Bard, Cultural Attache Gražina Michnevičiūtė, Ieva Dilytė of the Chicago Consulate, President of the Lithuanian Research Center in Lemont Kristina Lapienytė, Co-Chair of Chicago/Vilnius Sister Cities Regina Gailiešiūtė, and yours truly, Editor of Draugas News, Vida Kuprys, to name a few. What a great night at the opera!

Asmik Grigorian sings an excerpt from Cio-Cio-San’s Act II aria in a stage rehearsal. Production: Anthony Minghella. Conductor: Xian Zhang. 2023–24 season. V...

04/17/2024

The Must-See Event of the Chicago Cultural Calendar—The Lithuanian Documentary Film Festival kicks off on Wednesday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m. at North Riverside Classic Cinemas, 7501 W Cermak Rd, N. Riverside, IL 60546. Opening night features “The Mammoth Hunt” by Aistė Stonytė.

Student Films and Shorts on Day 2 –Thursday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Ateitis Foundation, 1380 Castlewood Dr, Lemont, IL 60439.

A different venue every day!
Follow on Facebook: Lithuanian Documentary Film Festival - LDFF