09/14/2026
Raddell’s Sausage Shop and Azman Quality Meats
Earn Titles at Polka Hall of Fame Sausage Fest
Bill and Marie Azman of Euclid’s Azman Quality Meats accepted the People’s Choice Award and Raddell’s Slovenian Sausage Shop, from the Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood, scored the Jury Award at the 22nd Slovenian Sausage Festival on Saturday, September 12, 2026, hosted by the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum.
Drizzles did not dissuade nearly 1,000 hungry music-lovers from enjoying eight hours of polka music and savory sausages at the SNPJ Farm in Kirtland, Ohio. Fifty musicians and accordionists volunteered their services at the annual fund-raiser for the Hall of Fame and museum.
"I grew up in with Slovenian sausage and polka music, so I just had to be here,” said Christian Razpotnik, a musician and polka radio host from Orlando, Florida. “It’s a great event. I’m so glad I came up here to experience it.”
As winner of the People’s Choice, Azman’s prize sausages will be served at the Polka Hall of Fame’s two-day polka dance festival over Thanksgiving weekend, Friday and Saturday, November 27 and 28, at the Holiday Inn Cleveland South in Independence , Ohio.
“The jury decides by blind tasting while each visitor receives a voting ticket to drop in the ballot box of the vendor of their favorite sausage,” explained Joe Valencic, Vice President of the Polka Hall of Fame. “Vendors are invited to observe the judging and the ballot count.”
The Slovenian sausage is a regional American specialty prepared from recipes brought to the United States by immigrants from Slovenia, where it is known as Kranjska klobasa. Sausages are made with pork, often accented with garlic, and then cured and smoked. More than 1,500 sausages were purchased at the event.
The National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum celebrates the city's variety of dance music with audio exhibits, historic photographs and original instruments. The music style evolved in the city’s Slovenian neighborhoods a century ago and became nationally popular in the decade after World War II, especially by America’s Polka King Frank Yankovic. Each year, the Polka Hall of Fame’s nationwide membership nominates and vote for polka performers in different categories. The annual awards ceremony on Saturday, November 28, 2026, at the Grand Ballroom of the Holiday Inn Cleveland South, is the high point of the Polka Hall of Fame’s Thanksgiving weekend music festival.
The Polka Hall of Fame is located at 605 East 222nd Street in Euclid, Ohio, in the city’s historic former city hall. Open Wednesdays and Saturdays, 10 to 2. For more information, check the website at PolkaFame.com or call (216) 621- FAME.
