Cue the clarinet and pass the pickled herring: the Borscht Belt is back, baby. On July 26 and 27, Ellenville once again becomes ground zero for a cultural revival as the Borscht Belt Fest brings its winning mix of comedy, cabaret, culinary lore, and klezmer to the streets of this once-sleepy Catskills town.
Launched in 2023 by the Borscht Belt Museum, the festival honors the legacy of the midcentury Jewish resort scene—a bygone era when tummlers roamed freely, punchlines flew faster than waiters with trays of chopped liver, and the region crackled with laughter, love affairs, and the low-level kvetching that comes with poorly air-conditioned lodgings.
But this isn’t a sepia-toned nostalgia trip—it’s a high-energy, deeply affectionate cultural happening. Think less Catskills museum diorama, more Catskills block party with better lighting and publicists.
The festival kicks off Saturday night with a comedy showcase that draws from the deep bench of Jewish-American wit, featuring performers like Beth Farber, Willie Zabar, and Emily Epstein White. And because no Borscht Belt celebration would be complete without a tip of the yarmulke to the legends, the fest honors Robert Klein—yes, that Robert Klein—with a Lifetime Achievement Award, a screening of Still Can’t Stop His Leg, and a panel about his trailblazing career from bar mitzvah gigs to HBO trailblazer.
Sunday is where the fest spills into the street—literally. Canal Street shuts down for a freewheeling fair full of live music (klezmer, brass, and possibly a surprise accordion duel), artisan vendors, ping-pong tables, rugelach bake-offs, and Borscht Belt Oral History Project interviews, where attendees can share tales about bubbe’s menorah or that time they saw Rodney Dangerfield at Grossinger’s.
Panels range from the literary (a sold-out talk with novelist Gary Shteyngart) to the deeply edible (“Soup to Schmaltz,” a history of Catskills cuisine). Cartoonists from the New Yorker will be on hand to draw live, which is either the most thrilling or terrifying sentence you’ll read today, depending on your relationship to facial features.
And of course, the whole weekend centers around the ongoing effort to build the Borscht Belt Museum—a permanent home for this cultural history in the former Home National Bank building on Canal Street in Ellenville, just a matzo ball’s throw from the street fair.
Admission is free for the Sunday street events. Comedy shows and indoor panels are ticketed, with prices topping out at a very reasonable $40. The laughter? Free. The memories? Yours to make. The schmaltz? Rendered on-site, emotionally and otherwise.
In the end, Borscht Belt Fest isn’t just about the past—it’s about continuity. About keeping the rhythm of rimshot and repartee alive in the hills that once made legends. And in Ellenville, for one weekend at least, the legacy lives on.
This article appears in July 2025.
