Muziky Performance to Honor Vrazels Polka Band
The Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center in La Grange will host the annual Heritage Festival & Muziky on October 19 and 20. The Fest will open at 4 pm on Friday with their famous homemade chicken and dumplings served while it lasts in the Hanslik Banquet Hall beginning at 5:30 pm.
The Polka On! Octoberfest on the Deck will begin at 6 pm with music by the Dujka Brothers till 9:30 pm. Mark and John Dujka have been making music together for over 30 years and have several acknowledgements, including being inducted into the Polka Hall of Fame at the KC Hall in Hallettsville, and receiving a Favorite Song Award from the International Polka Association for their recording of Church Picnic Polka. The song is featured on their latest CD, Let’s Have a Party, which celebrates the duo’s 30th anniversary.
Saturday, the day kicks off with an opening ceremony at 10 am. The La Grange Ford Hospoda will be filled with cold pivo and musical entertainment by Jerry Haisler & the Melody 5 and Enzian Buam from 11:00 am to 6 pm. Jerry Haisler from Temple and his band have been making music for almost 50 years. Enzian Buam of Houston combines German and Czech standards, as well as country, featuring the yodel meister, Jason Keepers, Urban Cowboy fiddler, Robert Herridge, and bass man Bill Holt. Plenty of room to dance on the Capital Farm Credit dance floor!
VRAZELS’ POLKA
BAND LEGACY
Enjoy more music at the Muziky, Muziky event from 7-9:30 pm in the Sanford Schmid Amphitheater. Always a popular part of the Heritage Fest, this year’s Legends Series will feature The Legacy of the Vrazels Polka Band.
The band, formed in 1953, was originally known as the Vrazels’ Playboys and consisted of Alfred, Anton and their three cousins, Leo, Louis, and Ladis Vrazel. Shortly after this, Alfred and Anton changed the name of the band to Vrazels’ Polka Band. A third brother, Lawrence Vrazel, Jr. joined them playing drums for the following 12 years. The band that retired in 2009 featured Alfred and Anton Vrazel, Thomas Strmiska, Albert Heselmeyer, David Trojacek, and Patrick Strmiska. The band has received numerous awards and recognition, the most recent being inducted into the 2018 Polka Hall of Fame at the KC Hall in Hallettsville.
The Legends Series performance will be followed by a huge Fireworks Finale, sponsored by HEB.
STROLL THE VILLAGE
In addition to enjoying the great music, you’re invited to stroll the Czech Village, an early 1900s recreated village complete with residential houses, barns, tavern, sawmill, and general store. Demonstrations of early life for the immigrants will take place throughout the grounds all day, including working in the saw mill, blacksmithing, corn shelling and grinding, hay pressing, and the making of textiles, noodles, sausage, and wine. Children activities will be available as well as Bingo in the Velehrad SPJST Hall.
An antique farm equipment show sponsored by the South Texas Wheel Spinners & Crank Twisters Club and an antique car show will spread through the village. Vendors and craft booths will be available for your shopping pleasure. Visit the country store for some good buys, including fresh, stone-ground corn meal for cooking. Plenty of food and cold beverages will be available as well. The Janak Barn & Texas Czech Agricultural Museum displays farm practices and implements from the late 1800s to 1940.
The Czech Village houses two music museums. The Czech Music Museum of Texas, located in
the Kalich House, features four genres of Czech music – classical, folk, polka, and liturgical. The Polka Lovers Club of Texas Museum, located in the Hoelsher House, features a display of Texas polka bands, as well as memorabilia and photos of the Polka Lovers Klub of America, Texas Chapter.
Inside the TCHCC main center, stop by the Czech Gift Shop to browse the brand-new stock of authentic Czech items, T-shirts, caps, crystal, periodicals, music CDs, and new Christmas decorations for 2018. Watch textile demonstrations of spinning and looming, crochet, and knitting. Enjoy the current exhibits at the center: WWI and the Birth of Czechoslovakia details Czech efforts on the battlefield and Czech Americans on the home front during World War I. Lidice 1942, on loan from the Czech Embassy in Washington, D.C., details the fate of this small village near Prague during WWII.
Have you always wondered about your Czech roots? The spacious Melnar Library will offer help with genealogy research. The Hanslik Hall will be the site of the KJT State Taroky Championship. Swing in there and they’d be happy to teach you this fun card game. Plenty to do for the entire family! Come out and Czech out the fun!
Book your hotel rooms at the Best Western and ask for the TCHCC Fest room block and discount before October 1. Article contributed by Theresa Parker, Texas Polka News.
