The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1985 (12. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)

1985-07-01 / 7. szám

Arthur A. Bartfay

HUNGARIAN SUMMER WEEK AT LAKE HOPE, OHIO, AMERICA’S ANSWER TO LAKE BALATON August 17-24, 1985

For an entire week, each summer, Lake Hope State Park in the hills of southeastern Ohio, turns into a “little Hungary,” attracting about 200 Hungarians of all ages from many states stretching from Connecticut to Illinois. During this week, late in August, Lake Hope becomes America’s equivalent to Hungary’s Lake Balaton and the language you will hear spoken there — whether by toddlers and teens, college students, the middle aged, or senior citizens — is Hungarian. It is the annual “Hungarian Week” of summer fun and sun sponsored by the Itt-Ott Society (Here and There) and the MBK-Magyar Barati Közösség (the Hungarian Communion of friends).

Why has this event become a magnet for American-Hungarians — from far and wide — for over a decade? First, because it provides an opportunity to socialize and talk with others in Hungarian. Second, because the gathering provides an ideal location for families, couples, and singles to relax in a beautiful outdoor setting, cut off from the pressures of urban living. (The nearest sizeable city is Nelsonville, with a population of less than 5,000, which is 17 miles away.) In short, it is a pleasant and inexpensive place to spend a couple of days or an entire week in a “Hungarian oasis” in America.

Make no mistake about it, accomodations at Lake Hope are not like at a luxury Hyatt Hotel, but neither are the prices. In 1984, a “deluxe housekeeping cabin” (that could easily accomodate a family of four), cost $198 for seven nights. The cabin included two bedrooms, each with two twin beds, a bathroom, a living room, plus a large screened porch. The “standard housekeeping cabins” are a bit more spartan and priced at $156 a week, but have ail the same essentials, including sheets, blankets, some dishes, and kitchen utensils. A one bedroom “sleeping cabin” (with two twin beds), was available for $32 a night or $140 a week. Sleeping cabins with up to four bedrooms (eight beds), ran $200 a week. For those who have their own tents, campgrounds are available for $3.50 a day.

Those who come as “singles” can be housesd for about $25 a day or less. For example, in 1984,1 shared a two bedroom delux cabin with a physicist from

Maryland and an engineer from Chicago, who brought his teenage son.

The registration fee for the informal summer get-together is a modest $25 per person for the entire week or $40 per couple. Students and retirees pay even less.

You can buy breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the Main Lodge Dining Hall, but most of the time most of the Magyars engage in creative cabin cooking or warm up some things that they have brought from home. Thus, you will find gulyás leves, pörkölt, and toltott káposzta on the Magyar menus in the cabins, along with standard American favorites. The only “official meal” of the week is on Wednesday night when the tabor tuz (camp fire) is held. At that time, you can buy some Hungarian bacon and kolbász to roast in the fireplaces of the picnic grounds. This “szalonna es kolbász sütés” is capped off with the singing of Hungarian songs around the camp fires.

The official program • of the Itt-Ott summer week centers around presentations about cultural, historical, and literary aspects of Hungary, past and present. All of the presenters spend at least some time there, engaging in informal conversation before and after. Programs have included presentations by the head of Children’s TV programming and Cultural TV programming on Hungarian television, professors from the U.S. and Canada, a guitar player/ Hungarian singer from Transylvania, slide presentations on folk customs and ceremonies, as well as dramatic and literary presentations in Hungarian by teenagers in attendance. These presentations (all held in the Hungarian language) are held each morning from about 9:30 A.M. to 1 P.M. Afterwards, for most, it is off to the beach for sunning, swimming, or boating. For others, it is time for jogging, hiking on the nature trails in the hills, bird watching, or perhaps playing chess. Following an evening presentation that starts at 8 P.M., the Itt-Ott-ers head back to their cabins for some rest or some conversation with old friends or newly-found friends. There is also likely to be a party going on in some cabins, so perhaps you’ll hear some Hungarian songs off in the distance.

The idea for the MBK summer week was born almost 20 years ago in Baton Rogue, Louisiana, at Louisiana State University, when two Hungarian-born American graduate students, Louis Elteto and Andrew Ludanyi, were fellow students there. Lajos had come there from a small town in Ohio and András from the large metropolis of New York City. One was a Roman Catholic and the other was reused in the Reformed Church tradition. One was majoring in languages and the other in political science. But, while working on their Ph.D.s in the bayous of Cajun Country, the two became friends and pondered the future of Hungarian life in America. This friendship, which has continued over the years, has led to a number of contributions toward the maintenance of the Magyar elet in the U.S.

Eventually, Lajos and András founded the Itt-Ott quarterly magazine which today reaches about 900 subscribers with articles in Hungarian about cultural, historical and literary topics. Another joint-venture has been the establishment of a college credit summer program of Hungarian studies ( including language study) for six weeks at Ohio Northern University in Oregon. The Hungarian summer week at Lake Hope is but another of their attempts to devise ways of “bringing Hungarians together” in a variety of setting.

Since all of the literature describing the Itt-Ott summer week is written in Hungarian, you may never before have heard about this “little Hungary” in the “new world” which is held annually at America’s Lake Balaton — at Lake Hope State Park in Ohio. But if you enjoy the out-of-doors and truly want “a change” for your next vacation, leave your tuxedos and the like at home and head for the hills of southeastern Ohio, near Nelsonville. Sample it for a few days or sign up for seven nights.

For information, contact: László Bojtos, 7000 Hilton Road, Brecksville, Ohio 44141. His telephone number — at a “reasonable hour” in the evenings is (216) 526-4587. You can talk with him or write to him in English or Hungarian.

For information about the Itt-Ott quarterly magazine in Hungarian, write: András Ludanyi, MBK/Itt-Ott, P.O.Box 112, Ada, Ohio 45810.

Editor’s Note: Mr. Arthur A. Bartfay is the president of the Columbus Ohio Branch of the William Penn Association.

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Eighth Hungarian Tribe