Visiting Ukrainian Day in Portland offers a view into the creativity and culture of Ukrainians.

This year’s festival, on Saturday, followed the April release of our latest book, Bash and Lucy Say, “Love, Love, Bark!” whose main character, Ukrainian immigrant Vera, teaches readers about Ukrainian culture and helps the children in the book learn to get along better. Like many of the Ukrainians we met at the festival, Vera –modeled after Michael’s surrogate grandmother–is smart, resilient and determined to do good.

Colorful hand-made Ukrainian clothing was on display at the festival. Visitors could even stick their heads into cardboard cut outs featuring traditional Ukrainian garb.

Of course, many of the Ukrainians attending the event wore traditional clothing:

The photo above illustrates classic Ukrainian resilience. We like the ribbon hung around the young woman’s neck that says, “Be brave like Ukraine.”

On stage numerous Ukrainian bands played, drawing listeners in spite of the 90-degree heat.

But artists representing other countries also performed, showing their support of Ukraine. They included the Oregon Chinese Coalition (pictured above) and Polish dancers.,

In April and May, we donated the proceeds of our sales of Bash and Lucy Say, “Love, Love, Bark!” to the Ukrainian Foundation–and expect to run another fundraiser.

If you’re interested in learning a little about Ukraine through the character of Vera, you can buy our book on Amazon right now for nearly 50% off–at a cost of $6.86. Read reviews and check out the paperback here: Bash and Lucy Say, “Love, Love, Bark!”for $6.86.

And don’t forget to watch Michael, age 9, dedicate our last book to Vera!