{"id":145,"date":"2015-05-18T14:17:25","date_gmt":"2015-05-18T18:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/?p=145"},"modified":"2018-01-09T11:25:42","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T16:25:42","slug":"ennis-national-polka-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2015\/05\/18\/ennis-national-polka-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Ennis National Polka Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Munn, W.T. Jr. Printing Company. A Little Bit of Czechoslovakia. Lester Strother Collection (AR0327), University of North Texas Special Collections<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

The Lester Strother collection not only contains information about the growth and development of the Southwest Metroplex, but also surrounding communities and other regions throughout Texas. Many small towns that were just beginning to grow would send information to the Texas Metro Magazine about upcoming events to\u00a0attract people from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"Ennis01\"<\/a>

A Little Bit of Czechoslovakia, May 6-7 1971. Lester Strother Collection (AR0327), University of North Texas Special Collections.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

One such event is the National Polka Festival<\/a> in Ennis, debuting in 1967.\u00a0 The festival was started by a group of men (Raymond Zapletal, Len Gehrig, and Joe Liska), who got the idea after visiting other Czechoslovakian communities around the United States who had a large interest in polka bands. Figuring they would be able to bring these people to the small town of Ennis, they proposed their idea to Ennis Chamber of Commerce<\/a> manager Jack McKay in 1967.<\/p>\r\n

In the beginning the festival was held on the first weekend in May (later it was moved to Memorial Day weekend). The festival gathered people from Czechoslovakian communities all over Texas as well as other areas of the United States, to indulge in traditional Czechoslovakian festivities and food, and of course the main attraction, polka music.<\/p>\r\n

The festival was a two day event, starting with a parade (now one of the largest parades in the DFW Metroplex) Saturday morning, followed by dancers adorned in traditional Czech costumes dancing in the streets and the Czech fraternal halls: KJT Hall (Katolick\u00e1 Jednota Texask\u00e1 – Catholic Union of Texas), the KC Hall (Knights of Columbus), and Sokol. The Beseda Dancers would also perform\u00a0with the official dance of ancient Czechoslovakia. Events throughout the two days would consist of polka music from bands such as the Lee Roy Matocha Orchestra<\/a>\u00a0from the small town of Fayetteville <\/a>Texas, and the Vrazel Polka Band<\/a> from Buckholts Texas. Traditional klabase (sausage) could be found everyday along with sauerkraut and homemade kolaches.<\/p>\r\n

Within the first few years the festival was already a success, attracting over 30,000 people. It grew to become the largest Czech\u00a0festival in the United States, bringing such bands as Grammy award winning Brave Combo<\/a>, Czech and Then Some<\/a>, and others from across the United States and the Czech Republic. Now spanning over three days, the festival brings over 50,000 people.<\/p>\r\n

-by Jaime Janda<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lester Strother collection not only contains information about the growth and development of the Southwest Metroplex, but also surrounding communities and other regions throughout Texas. Many small towns that were just beginning to grow would send information to the Texas Metro Magazine about upcoming events to\u00a0attract people from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. One such… Read more »<\/a>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,12,8,11,9,7],"class_list":["post-145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brave-combo","tag-czech","tag-ennis-texas","tag-kolache","tag-memorial-day-weekend","tag-polka"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p60UnY-2l","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":342,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2015\/09\/28\/texas-instruments-takes-us-to-the-moon\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":0},"title":"Texas Instruments Takes Us to the Moon","author":"Alexandra","date":"September 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins embarked on a journey to the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Apollo 11\"","block_context":{"text":"Apollo 11","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/tag\/apollo-11\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Texas Instruments Press Release","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0327-018-005_001-740x950.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0327-018-005_001-740x950.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0327-018-005_001-740x950.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":352,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2015\/10\/05\/meacham-field-love-field-and-the-dfw-regional-airport\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":1},"title":"Meacham Field, Love Field, and the DFW Regional Airport","author":"Alexandra","date":"October 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Dallas and Fort Worth share such a strong rivalry, it\u2019s somewhat of a surprise they\u2019ve been able to work together on some of the most exciting infrastructure projects in North Texas. Take the DFW Regional Airport, for example. Both cities operated their own airports quite successfully for a time--Meacham Field\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"air travel\"","block_context":{"text":"air travel","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/tag\/air-travel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Aerial view of the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0327-017-002_01-740x604.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0327-017-002_01-740x604.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0327-017-002_01-740x604.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0327-017-002_01-740x604.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2014\/06\/13\/red-river-showdown\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":2},"title":"Red River Showdown","author":"Morgan","date":"June 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"With the much celebrated announcement this week that the Red River Showdown would remain at the Cotton Bowl until the year 2025, an 85 year-old Dallas tradition was upheld. Each year, Dallas becomes awash in a sea of burnt orange and red as legions of fans from north and south\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/04\/CottonBowl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/04\/CottonBowl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/04\/CottonBowl.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/04\/CottonBowl.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":367,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2015\/10\/14\/remembering-texas-stadium\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":3},"title":"Remembering Texas Stadium","author":"Alexandra","date":"October 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Football is fun. It\u2019s a moneymaker, too. That\u2019s one reason Irving decided to construct Texas Stadium, after the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Clint Murchison Jr., expressed interest in moving the team out of the Cotton Bowl. Through revenue bonds, Irving financed the stadium, and it opened in 1971 as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Dallas Cowboys\"","block_context":{"text":"Dallas Cowboys","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/tag\/dallas-cowboys\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A view of the field and open roof at Texas Stadium in Irving, 1972. From the Lester Strother Texas Metro Collection. 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Fort Worth was one of those cities that enjoyed a profitable comeback, and it was largely due to the area\u2019s burgeoning aviation industry as the country prepared to enter the second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"aviation\"","block_context":{"text":"aviation","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/tag\/aviation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"An Assembly Line at Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0327-018-001_01-740x603.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0327-018-001_01-740x603.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0327-018-001_01-740x603.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2015\/09\/UNTA_AR0327-018-001_01-740x603.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":393,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.unt.edu\/southwest-metroplex\/2015\/10\/07\/the-cotton-bowl-the-house-that-doak-built\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":5},"title":"The Cotton Bowl, The House that Doak Built","author":"Alexandra","date":"October 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In the years following World War II, Doak Walker (a.k.a. \u201cThe Doaker\u201d) was the college football favorite. 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