Pierogi Fest, one of Chicago and Northwest Indiana’s largest and most popular annual events, begins in only 9 days! That is right, Pierogi Fest 2025 will be held Friday, July 25th (11 AM to 11 PM), Saturday, July 26th (11 AM to 11 PM), and Sunday, July 27th (11 AM to 5 PM) in Downtown Whiting.
Pierogi Fest offers more than 75 food booths, two beer gardens, 55 arts & crafts & tchotchke vendors, and entertainment on six stages featuring more than 50 performances. Perhaps the biggest highlight of the event is the Pierogi Fest Parade on Friday, July 25th at 7 PM, featuring some of the most madcap entries on Planet Earth.
Two headline acts include: a free concert by Five For Fighting, a/k/a John Ondrasik on our main stage on Saturday, July 26th at 8:30 PM, sponsored by Hard Rock Casino! The songwriter and performer is a platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated sensation, whose first major single, "Superman (It's Not Easy) is part of the American Songbook. Five For Fighting has released six studio LPs, including the platinum certified America Town and The Battle for Everything; and the top-10 charting Two Lights, along with an EP and live albums.
On Sunday, July 27th at 1 PM, local celebrities will take on esteemed physicians in the “Who’s Smarter than a University of Chicago Physician” competition. The locals have to answer questions about medicine, while the physicians answer pop-culture questions.
Pierogi Fest, organized entirely by volunteers, has earned several accolades, including:
- Readers Digest: One of America’s 50 best festivals
- MSN Eat This Not That- One of the 50 best food festivals in the US
- TripAdvisor- One of the 10 wackiest festivals on the planet
- One of the 25 best food festivals in North America by Saveur Magazine
- Pierogi Fest was the subject of a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal in 2015,
- Named by Oprah Winfrey for five years straight as one of her favorite things to do;
- Named for 21 consecutive years as the Times of Northwest Indiana's Best Festival;
- A Blue-Ribbon Festival of Summer in 2013 by Yahoo.com;
- The Heritage Award from the Polish National Congress,
- Featured on The Food Channel, Travel Channel, Pawn Stars Chicago, Wild Chicago, Access Indiana, CNN, and television stations in Germany, Slovakia, Poland, China and Australia,
- Best of Indy Honorable Mention as best local festival even though the festival is held 165 miles from Indianapolis,
- Featured on numerous nationally syndicated television shows including Wild Travels, Small Town, Big Deal and Hardcore Pawn Chicago,
- It has been consistently cited as the most popular festival amongst extra-terrestrials when they are not buzzing US Navy fighter jets.
For more information, contact 219 659-0292 (Media inquiries 219 218-2735).