Bal Karnawałowy 2024

The traditional PACIM Carnival Ball is scheduled for the last Saturday of Carnival, February 10, 2024, at Midland Hills Country Club, 2001 Fulham Street, Roseville, MN 55113.

Three-course dinner with the following choice of the main course:

• 8-ounce Top Sirloin Steak with a wild mushroom glaze
• Midland Chicken — lightly floured and pan-seared with buttery white wine source with lemon, artichokes, tomatoes, capers, and Kalamata olives
• Walleye Pike — lightly breaded and baked, served with lemon and tartar sauce.

Accompaniments
Yukon Gold whipped potatoes and Amaretto glazed mini carrots.

Midland Hills Salad — romaine and iceberg lettuce with tomato, cucumber, beets, croutons, sunflower seeds, Parmesan cheese, and creme peppercorn dressing. Served with rolls, butter, coffee, and hot tea.

Pączki for dessert!

A glass of wine is included with the dinner. Cash bar.

Program
5:00 PM Cocktails and Silent Auction
6:00 PM Dinner
7:15 PM Presentation of Award to Walter Shimshock (posthumously). Please see the information about him below.
7:30 PM Performance by Dolina Dancers
8:00 PM Bal Opening with Polonaise dance
Dancing until Midnight.

Entrance on the right by the Polish flag.

Silent auction is conducted online. To view auctioned items and to place bids, please visit www.32auctions.com/pacimbal2024

Walter Shimshock

During the official part of the Ball, Walter Shimshock (a.k.a. Władysław Szymczak), an American airman of Polish descent who perished in September 1944, will be posthumously honored. Walter died while participating in a supply airdrop operation for the Warsaw Uprising conducted by the USA Air Force. At the time of his death, Walter Shimshock was a 19-year-old, a third-generation Polish immigrant living with his family in NE Minneapolis and was a parishioner of the Holy Cross Church. The B-17 Flying Fortress, of which he was a crew member, was shot down near Warsaw during a supply flight. Walter survived the crash but was captured by the Germans, tortured, and executed.

In 1987, the Polish town of Łomianki unveiled the Monument to the Memory of American Airmen and established contacts with the families of the fallen soldiers. It fostered friendly relations, leading to the establishment of sister city cooperation with Columbia Heights, MN. Bernard and George Szymczak, the brothers of the fallen airman, were fervent advocates of this idea. At their initiative, in 1991, a cooperation agreement was signed between Łomianki and Columbia Heights. This close relationship between the two cities continues to this day, as demonstrated by the latest initiative of PACIM to erect a twin monument in one of the municipal parks in Columbia Heights.

The monument will be a replica of the one standing in Łomianki, and a renowned Polish artist living in Wisconsin has already been commissioned to create it. The PACIM initiative involves the authorities of Columbia Heights, the Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago, Columbia Heights Sister Cities International, and many private donors. PACIM is collecting funds for this purpose, and the ceremonial erection of the monument is planned for September this year, on the 80th anniversary of the shooting down of the plane and its heroic crew.