In part 1 of this story, we spoke of Stanley’s Dave Jankoski family and their history from Poland to Wisconsin. We continue the story with Part 2. On Sunday, September 20, 2026, Polish immigrant family histories came alive at Polish Heritage Day at the Stanley Area Historical Society Museum. The gathering remembered the journeys, labor, hardship, faith and traditions that shaped Stanley, Thorp, Lublin, Withee and the surrounding countryside. It also showed how individual family memories can become part of a larger regional story when neighbors gather to share what they know.
The day connected a public celebration with the quieter work of preservation, guided by longtime society president and former Stanley mayor Dave Jankoski. Visitors enjoyed the program while hearing how immigration unfolded family by family, job by job, and town by town. Rather than treating Polish heritage as a distant chapter, he invited the audience to recognize it in local surnames, congregations, businesses and memories held by neighbors.
He helped lead the gathering with museum director Betty Plombon and museum intern Claudia Piwowarczyk. He provided continuity, while Plombon, Piwowarczyk and numerous volunteers organized the displays, food, performers and practical details. Together they welcomed guests for fellowship, entertainment and family history. Advance reservations were required because seating was limited.
Volunteers selected displays, coordinated performers, served food and helped guests interpret the museum’s objects. Their work created opportunities to identify a face, ask about a surname or connect a family account with a place—small exchanges that can preserve a photograph, correct a record or save a story from being lost.
The turnout suggested that Polish Heritage Day reached beyond one town and one generation. Visitors from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois came not only for a formal program but also to compare family experiences, renew acquaintances and recognize familiar names and places. In those exchanges, the museum became more than an archive; it became a meeting place where private recollections could be tested, connected and added to a shared regional history.
Polish Heritage Day also demonstrated how different forms of memory reinforce one another. A surname on a display could lead to a conversation; a familiar song could recall a church service or family gathering; a traditional dish could prompt someone to explain how a recipe changed over time. The museum brought those pieces together in one place, allowing visitors to connect personal recollections with photographs, artifacts and the experiences of other families. In that way, the program did not simply present history to an audience. It encouraged guests to help interpret and preserve the region’s Polish heritage.
The shared meal also carried memory. Recipes traveled with families, changed with available ingredients and became linked to holidays, church gatherings and family tables. Even when later generations no longer spoke Polish fluently, familiar foods and customs preserved a sense of origin.
Music gave the gathering much of its spirit. Walter Wartolec and Alex Kulesa played concertina music, while singers from St. Mary of Czestochowa Church performed Poland’s national anthem, “Mazurek Dabrowskiego,” and other songs in Polish. The performances did more than entertain. They demonstrated how language and music can carry memory across generations.
Such moments can draw new people into historical work. A visitor who recognizes a name, corrects a date or remembers an old custom may become the person who preserves the next photograph or records the next family account. Jankoski encourages participation, listens and helps others see that their knowledge belongs in the community record.
The event showed that heritage survives when people gather, speak names, sing old songs and compare family paths. It also showed why a local museum matters. Family keepsakes can seem ordinary in isolation, but together they reveal how immigrants found work, formed congregations, raised children and adapted traditions to a new country. Jankoski offers vision, while Betty Plombon, Claudia Piwowarczyk and volunteers create programs that invite public participation. Polish Heritage Day was more than a celebration of ancestry. It was an act of community memory—honoring those who came before while encouraging today’s families to preserve photographs, documents, recipes and stories for those who will come next.