After a decade-long absence, the Twin Cities Polish Festival returns this weekend for what organizers hope will become an annual event.

Highlights include an exhibition of Polish Tatra Sheepdogs, a Chopin piano program, entertainment, food and displays of "all things Polish." Members of the Midwest Polka Association will give free polka lessons, while children, teen and adult dance groups will perform traditional folk dances.

Most events will take place outdoors Saturday and Sunday on Old Main Street across from Riverplace and St. Anthony Main. The Chopin Celebration will be inside the atrium at Riverplace (across the bridge from the Nicollet Island Inn). The program will feature performers as young as 8 years old, as well as Ora Itkin, a professional pianist with the St. Paul Conservatory of Music and the University of St. Thomas.

More information is available online at /www.tcpolish festival.org.

MAUREEN MCCARTHY