The Grease Pole Festival is an event that is held in the city of Buffalo, New York, every year in July. It invites all Western New Yorkers from all cultures and backgrounds to learn more about Latino and Hispanic culture, but more specifically, Puerto Rican culture. This event started over 50 years ago in Buffalo in 1969.
It encompasses a variety of different activities that the whole family would enjoy. There is everything from live music, dancing, and authentic food to lots of family-friendly activities that create a welcoming atmosphere to honor Puerto Rican heritage and bring neighborhoods and visitors more together. But the main event is the pole-climbing contest.
The Grease Pole, or better known as palo encebao, is a 30-35-foot-tall telephone-like pole that is coated in grease (like a heavy lard or Crisco), and competitors attempt to climb to the top and reach for prizes that are placed there. It is truly a test of strength as well as teamwork for participants to work together to climb the slippery pole.
To compete in the competition, participants will form teams of six people and attempt to climb the pole by standing on each other’s shoulders. In order to successfully win, one team member must scale the pole to the very top and retrieve the prize. There are no ropes, climbing gear, or sticky substances allowed to aid in climbing, and participants are usually made to go barefoot.
Teams usually will create a human ladder with the strongest and heaviest members standing at the bottom of the pole and then ascending with lighter members to finally the lightest and most agile member who will attempt the climb to the top. One of the best ways to be able to build enough friction for the final member to climb is by having each layer of the pyramid scrape off layers of the grease with their clothing, or skin, or towels. All teams will race against the clock with judges and timers monitoring attempts.
When I first heard about this festival, I thought that there was no way it could be true. I just couldn’t understand the concept. But after reading into it and hearing about it from other people, I realized just how deep the roots of it are.
This event has been held every year by the Agustin “Pucho” Olivencia Community Center on Swan St. by the community organizers. It started out as just a local cultural gathering with a small one-day festival that typically gathered around a few hundred people. It is rooted in traditions that the grandfather of the founder brought from Puerto Rico. Since its founding, the event has grown into a three-day weekend event that is hosted annually in July.
This past July, the event celebrated its 55th anniversary, which makes the Grease Pole festival Western New York’s oldest ethnic and Hispanic heritage festival. The primary focus of the event is to replicate traditional Hispanic and Puerto Rican heritage, as well as test teamwork, and bring people of the WNY community together. The festival also serves as the community center’s primary fundraising event where the proceeds go towards youth programs, facility maintenance, and college scholarships.
Although I have never personally attended the Grease Pole Festival, I think that it is definitely worth checking out to learn more about Hispanic and Puerto Rican culture and roots, and I plan to go next summer.