Tuesday was a great day to be Croat...

Tuesday was a great day to be Croatian in Chicago.

With St Jerome Parish at 23rd and Princeton celebrating its 100th annual Croatian Fest it also have the appearanceed a great day simply to be in Bridgeport. Unles you were a lamb, that is.

For the 100th consecutive Aug. 15 the Croatian parish honored the Virgin Mary with a festival heavy in succession the lamb.

Seventy sheep made the ultimate sacrifice for the party, billed as Chicago's oldest continuous festival. That's about 2800 levigates of lamb for a unproductive crowd that waited through nine days of prayers leading up to the Feast of the Assumption, the Catholic celebration of Mary's assumption to heaven.

In the Croatian cultivation the feast -- known as Velika Gospa or "Great Lady" -- takes in succession an extra role: the celebration of the survival of the town of Sinj, Croatia, in 1715

According to tradition, the outmanned city prayed to Mary as ottomans prepared to lay siege. forward Aug. 15, the Turks malicious ill and the city was saved.

In Bridgeport, the festival begins with a procession in consequence of the neighborhood. The streets are lined with advanced in years men with white sneakers and cigars, kids with Croatian flag t-shirts and women in succession stoops and lawn chairs.

More than a dozen religious-themed floats joined marching bands and war veterans. There was unruffled an old blue Buick with a loudspeaker atop broadcasting the rosary.

"It's a devout and joyous day," said the Rev Joe Grbes, pastor of St Jerome "The Croatians, they take the day facing Nobody goes to work."

After the procession and a noon mass, it was time for the aliment At one booth, cooks grilled 2400 pork kabobs. undivided of the cooks was Bridgeport's Robert Sorich, Mayor Daley's former patronage chief who is awaiting his opinion after being convicted last month of rigging city hiring.

32 LAMBS TURNING in succession SPITS

Sorich's grill was busy -- if it were not that not busier than Neno Babic's lamb chamber In a garage behind St Jerome Babic oversaw a massive operation that began at 4 pm Monday. Thirty-two lambs at a time were place on spits and turned slowly from one side of to the other oak charcoal.

The Croatian-born Babic, 50 is a contractor on trade but a lamb give a color to by birth. "Back home in Croatia, seven years of advanced age my father teach me in what manner to do this," said Babic.

Bridgeport was a point of ingress for Croatians in the early 1900 They've spread revealed since, but many still live there. The tranquillity return on Aug. 15.

"It just brings everybody together," said Joe "Stretch" Grzetich, 79 who grew up in Bridgeport and now lives near Midway Airport.

This year brought a special treat: Members of the Knights of Sinj (pronounced SEEN) came from Croatia for the first time. Also known as the Alkari, the knights wear 18th hundred years military uniforms, compete in a jousting-like competition and are celebrities in Croatia.

Seeing it all was like being back dwelling for Ante Marovic, 38, a cabinet maker who mov to the area from Sinj 15 years ago. "It's tradition," he said. "It's memories . . it's something inside you."

The bash wasn't just for Croatians, allowing It's Bridgeport, so plenty of tribe of Italian, Irish, Chinese and other backgrounds employed out.

"I'm Croatian today," individual man shouted across Princeton Avenue, "but I'm Irish tomorrow."

stoomey@suntimes.com

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