DEERFIELD — After a successful return in 2023, the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association’s (PVMA) Eastern European Heritage Day is back this weekend.

The public is invited to PVMA, 10 Memorial St., on Sunday, Oct. 20, from 1 to 5 p.m. for the free event, which will feature a wide variety of activities, historical information, and Polish, Ukrainian and Jewish desserts.

PVMA Business Manager Jeanne Sojka, who helps organize Eastern European Heritage Day, said the event is an opportunity to learn about and appreciate the contributions that eastern European immigrants made to the area.

“I think that’s kind of a forgotten story, that so many of the farms were worked on by eastern European immigrants. They saved money, bought the land and many of them became quite successful,” Sojka said. “They powered the Industrial Revolution here in the valley and there’s so much more to learn and see.”

The key event on Sunday is “Poland: 1880-1920,” a lecture by Patrice Dabrowski, an author and associate with the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. Dabrowski will discuss why eastern Europeans left their homelands for America between 1880 and 1920, while also exploring Polish history during a period in which the country was partitioned — it became independent in 1918 after World War I.

Dabrowski’s lecture will take place at 2 p.m.

“I think it will be a fabulous talk with her,” Sojka said.

The festival will also provide one of the last chances to see “New Roots in River Banks: Contributions of Polish and Other Eastern European Immigrants to the Connecticut River Valley,” which is an exhibit exploring the experiences of the Skibicki/Skibiski and Sojka families through their journey to the U.S. “New Roots in River Banks” began at the Great Falls Discovery Center in Turners Falls before moving to PVMA and it will remain in Deerfield through the end of October. On Dec. 7, it will open in Holyoke Heritage State Park.

The exhibit is on display inside the Memorial Hall Museum, but begins outside with some antique farm equipment donated by local families and businesses. Greeting folks at the entrance are a corn sheller and potato scale, both from 1900, loaned by the Galenski family, as well as an 1890 market wagon on loan from Mill River Farm Market.

There will be free food and refreshments, as well, with Franklin County Technical School culinary students providing kolachy cookies, alongside other options.

Other activities include booths set up by the Polish Genealogical Society of Massachusetts, the Polish Center of Discovery and Learning, and the Polish American Foundation. Montague resident Carol Kostecki will also be on hand to demonstrate how to paint Pysanky eggs.

All together, Sojka said Eastern European Heritage Day is an opportunity for folks to learn about their ancestors and explore their cultural backgrounds.

“We’re trying to find ways to represent that [history and tradition],” Sojka said, “so they can see that and be so proud of what these people have achieved.”

More information about Eastern European Heritage Day can be found on PVMA’s website at deerfield-ma.org.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.