Two Belgian draft horses pulling an authentic beer wagon entered the Yogi’s Grill and Bar parking lot at 5 p.m. Monday. The wagon is filled with Dyngus Day party-goers and kegs of Lebowski Lager from Upland Brewery. After arriving, the beer and the party-goers made a quick exit off the wagon and into the bar to get the party started.\n“The beer-delivering horses is my new favorite Dyngus Day tradition,” bartender Bob Hebenstreit said. Hebenstreit has worked eight Dyngus Days and said he sees something new every year.\nDyngus Day is a Polish celebration that marks the end of the Lent season and is always the first Monday after Easter. Yogi’s Grill and Bar celebrates Dyngus Day by throwing a party in which patrons and employees wear ridiculously mismatched clothes, listen to live polka music and drink the liquor Navip Slivovitz.\n“Dyngus Day is like St. Patrick’s Day on acid,” manager Chris Karl said.
The colorful dress \nOn Dyngus Day, you embrace the clothes you are embarrassed to own, Yogi’s owner Jim Karl said.\nJunior Zach Towers was decked out in old khakis with bright green soccer shorts pulled over them, a loud orange shirt with a small, technicolored windbreaker half-zipped up, and a necktie tied around his forehead. Towers said he loves Dyngus Day because it is such a colorful spectacle and everyone is in a great mood.\nSenior Becky Brown was, head to toe, a colorful spectacle. She wore bright yellow knee socks, a skirt, a bright silky undershirt with a corduroy vest, blonde-braided pigtails, and a brown beret.\n“Seeing everyone dressed up is crazy,” Brown said. “You can tell people enjoy dressing up.”\nFormer president of the IU board of trustees Fred Eichhorn said his favorite part of this year’s Dyngus Day was seeing owner Jim Karl dressed up like a polish prince. Karl’s costume, which consisted of a big black floppy hat and a black and golden robe, was not exactly mismatched like the other party-goers.\n“In Poland, princes color-coordinate,” Karl said. “They don’t necessarily walk coordinated, though.”
The drinks \n“Slivovitz is disgusting, it’s gross,” Bloomington resident Mitch Taylor said.\nMost party-goers agree with Taylor, but say it’s essential to do a shot of the Serbian liquor on Dyngus Day. Patrons like to drink the foul liquor out of shotskis, which are three or four shot glasses on a ski. To drink, patrons must coordinate with each other and take the shots at the same time. \nPatrons also drank the specially-named “Lebowski Lager,” which is the same beer normally labeled as “Maibock” beer. The brew was renamed for the day.
Polka! Polka! Polka! \nKid Koozski has been playing Polka music at Dyngus Day since about 1999. \n“We play three hours of Polka nonstop,” Koozski said while taking a leak in the men’s room before the show. “I guarantee you won’t hear the same song twice.”\nKoozski, who dressed like Buddy Holly might if he were to attend Dyngus Day, is one half of the Buffoonski Brothers, who performed at Yogi’s on Monday night. Koozski plays keyboards and kazoo while his brother plays drums and bass guitar. Leo Cookski served as the emcee and plays the electric washboard, an instrument he invented.\nCookski, wearing a dog costume complete with floppy ears, introduced the band and then began to play “Pennsylvania Polka” while the audience sang along. After three songs, a bar patron sent the band a shotski of Slivovitz.\n“I’m strategic when I get slivovitzed,” Koozski said before the show. “I try to put off the room spinning as long as possible.”\nOn Monday, in true Dyngus Day spirit, Koozski didn’t even make it three songs.
