Romanian Heritage in Chicago: Parishes, Events, and Community

When you walk through the neighborhoods of Chicago, you might not expect to find Orthodox churches with domes that echo the skyline of Bucharest, or hear Romanian folk songs played at summer festivals. But for over a century, Romanian immigrants and their descendants have built a quiet, enduring presence in the city-rooted in faith, tradition, and community.

Churches as Cultural Anchors

The heart of Romanian heritage in Chicago isn’t found in museums or monuments, but in its parishes. The St. George Romanian Orthodox Church is a Romanian Orthodox parish established in 1922 on the city’s South Side, serving as both a spiritual home and a cultural hub for generations. It’s one of the oldest Romanian religious communities in the United States, built by immigrants who arrived from Transylvania, Moldova, and Bukovina during the wave of early 20th-century migration.

Each Sunday, services are conducted in Romanian, with hymns sung in traditional Byzantine chant. The church doesn’t just host liturgies-it hosts language classes for children, folk dance rehearsals, and Sunday school lessons on Romanian history. Many parishioners still bring homemade sarmale and cozonac to post-service gatherings. These aren’t just meals; they’re acts of preservation.

Another key parish is St. Nicholas Romanian Greek Catholic Church, located in the Avondale neighborhood. Founded in 1938, it serves a smaller but deeply committed congregation. Unlike the Orthodox parish, this church follows the Eastern Catholic tradition, meaning it recognizes the Pope but keeps its Orthodox liturgy and married clergy. Its presence shows how Romanian religious identity isn’t monolithic-it’s shaped by regional roots and historical choices.

Festivals That Keep Tradition Alive

Every June, the Romanian community gathers for the Chicago Romanian Folk Festival at the Ukrainian National Museum. Now in its 28th year, the event draws over 3,000 people annually. You’ll find women in embroidered blouses (ie) dancing the hora, men playing the cimbalom, and children learning to weave traditional patterns on looms brought from Romania.

Food stalls line the courtyard, offering mici (grilled minced meat rolls), papanasi (fried cheese doughnuts with sour cream and jam), and red cabbage salad with caraway. Vendors sell hand-carved wooden spoons, woolen rugs, and hand-painted Easter eggs-items that are hard to find outside of Romania itself. The festival isn’t just entertainment; it’s a classroom. Local historians give talks on the 1989 Romanian Revolution, and elders share stories of leaving home with nothing but a suitcase and a hymnal.

Smaller events happen year-round. The Romanian Cultural Center in Lincoln Park hosts monthly film nights-showing classics like The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu or documentaries on Transylvanian villages. There’s also a Romanian language café every second Thursday, where people practice speaking over coffee and homemade plum brandy (tuică).

Who Keeps the Flame Burning?

Today’s Romanian community in Chicago is a mix of old-timers and new arrivals. The first wave came between 1890 and 1920, mostly laborers from rural areas. They worked in steel mills, meatpacking plants, and railroads. Their children and grandchildren became teachers, nurses, and small business owners.

The second wave arrived after 1989, when Romania’s communist regime fell. Many were professionals-doctors, engineers, and artists-who settled in suburbs like Skokie and Morton Grove. They brought new energy: Romanian-language radio programs, weekend newspapers printed in Chicago, and a nonprofit called Romanian Heritage Foundation, which funds scholarships for students studying Romanian history.

Now, a third generation is emerging-children of these post-1989 immigrants. Many don’t speak Romanian fluently, but they’re re-engaging with their roots. A group of college students at DePaul University started a Romanian student association in 2023. They organize potlucks, teach each other folk dances, and even petitioned the city to recognize Romanian Heritage Day. In 2025, Chicago officially declared the first Saturday of October as Romanian Heritage Day.

Why It Matters

Romanian heritage in Chicago isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about identity. For many, it’s the only connection they have to grandparents they never met, to villages they’ve never seen, to a language their parents stopped speaking to help them fit in.

That’s why the church bells still ring on Sunday mornings. Why the festival tents go up every summer. Why a 16-year-old girl in Cicero is learning to embroider a traditional blouse because her grandmother said, “This is how you remember where you come from.”

The community is small-estimated at 12,000 people of Romanian descent in the metro area-but its impact is outsized. It’s in the Romanian phrases whispered at family dinners. In the folk songs played at weddings. In the way a grandmother still says, “Dacă nu ai mâncat sarmale, nu ai sărbătorit,” meaning, “If you didn’t eat sarmale, you didn’t celebrate.”

This isn’t a relic. It’s a living culture-and it’s still growing.