The American Croatian Club, 4846 Oberlin Ave. in Lorain, celebrated the annual Croatian Festival July 20 to share and celebrate Croatian culture with the community.

As part of the celebration, guests were met with many traditional food options to choose from, as well as imported beer and traditional live music.

According to Chris Thomas, American Croatian Club head trustee, the event truly enhances many values upheld in the organization including food, music, dancing, friendship and family.

“The intent is to promote and preserve our Croatian culture and heritage,” he said.

“It gets bigger and stronger every year,” said Rich Gubric, club president.

Items on the food menu include roast ham, roast lamb, stuffed cabbage rolls, chicken paprikash, cabbage and noodles and the popular Cevapi sandwiches; a mix of beef, pork and lamb, onion, tomato and sour cream in a flatbread, said Gubric.

“What always takes the headline is the roast lamb, on the open fire, and we’ve been doing that for years,” Gubric said.

“The guys that take care of that have been doing it for years and have really honed in on their talent, it’s a really tasty dish.”

For nearly 25 years, the American Croatian Club has hosted the Croatain Festival as a way to promote and preserve Croatian culture, Thomas said, and its popularity has gained support from communities across state lines, and has hosted guests from Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Florida and even Canada.

“There’s a Croatian community where we try to support each other, we all have various clubs and organizations,” he said.

As with the Croatian Festival, the main goal of the American Croatian Club is to be a place where Croatian-Americans, and those who are not Croatian, can feel supported and establish pride among the Croatian community in Lorain, according to Thomas.

The group was first founded 101 years ago, Gubric said, and diligently works to uphold the values first instilled regarding celebrating, promoting and educating the Croatian community.

“It’s not only a private ethnic club, but it’s also a social club for all of us,” said Thomas.

“We support each other.”