zcbj hall
rural dubois
The Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places.
It was built in 1921.
It has been and continues to be a cultural center for Czech music. This webpage is not complete, but items will be added as time permits.
It was built in 1921.
It has been and continues to be a cultural center for Czech music. This webpage is not complete, but items will be added as time permits.
information runs newest to oldest
the annual james GANG Dance
SEPTEMBER 2023
For the Humboldt Standard & Pawnee Republican, by Sharla Sitzman
Dale and Jean Blecha James were married on September 5, 1948. After their 25th anniversary, their kids started celebrating with a free polka dance on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. At first it was every 5 years, then every 2 years, and then they couldn’t stand it! For about the last 15 years, it has been every single year. Dale and Jean are gone, but if they were still with us, their 75th anniversary would be 3 days hence.
The James kids in question know how to have fun, although they aren’t spring chickens anymore. Dale, Jr. and wife Diane, Dan and his wife Deb, and Denise and her husband David Hunzeker, and the youngest kid, Debbie. I chatted with Dale, Denis, and Diane on the front steps of the ZCBJ Hall in rural DuBois as Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs dashed off polka after waltz after polka with their usual zest.
“My first dance, they didn’t have electricity here,” said Denise. “They used a generator,” The generator was powered by a tractor. Dale said, “There was no air conditioning, and it can be hot in there!” He gestured through the open double doors to the dance floor where kids whirled with each other, with parents, with grandparents. “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie,” sang Greg Blecha, originally a rather naughty song that has been modified into innocence. “I had my wedding reception here,” someone said from near the steps.
Came another voice, “I did, too. But now I’m divorced, so….” We chatted under the stars a while then went back into the hubbub.
The concession stand had a steady business of selling their delicious burgers. Consistent with a polka dance at the Hall, there was also beer involved. Meanwhile, people danced. Grandpa carried a tiny baby, gliding along, hopefully imprinting on that tiny brain the good feelings that go with a good dance. Older kids, teenagers, middle-aged, and even…old people smiled as they danced. Greg Blecha from time to time would go, “Wooo!” and hear answering calls from the floor. “Is everybody happy?” he would yell. Loud responses, including some “wooo” calls, came. In the middle of the Beer Barrel Polka, Greg yelled out, “Make some noise!” and everyone did.
There was the polka “Out Behind the Barn,” and that pretty politically-incorrect “Poopsie Woopsie,” and then there was the Chicken Dance. At a polka. Well, why not? The James family was celebrating a wedding, even if one that happened 75 years ago, before almost everyone at the Hall was born. Exceptions included Bob Blecha, who was up on the stage, and his sister Ilah, who sat at a table and watched, quietly pleased.
It was a good night, a very good night. I’ve never seen so many young people at a polka dance, and they were bright and exuberant. The James family is passing along their heritage to the next generation, hurray!
Anyone who wants to dance and to see the multiple generations out on that beautiful maple dance floor can go to the next James family dance. Remember, the Saturday of each Labor Day weekend.
And I have to add, polka lovers can also come to one of the Polka Parties at the Hall this Spring, one a month, with the lineup being the Leo Lonnie Orchestra in January, the Kenny Janak orchestra in March, Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs in March, and the season closer, the Mark Vhylidal Orchestra.
Dale and Jean Blecha James were married on September 5, 1948. After their 25th anniversary, their kids started celebrating with a free polka dance on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. At first it was every 5 years, then every 2 years, and then they couldn’t stand it! For about the last 15 years, it has been every single year. Dale and Jean are gone, but if they were still with us, their 75th anniversary would be 3 days hence.
The James kids in question know how to have fun, although they aren’t spring chickens anymore. Dale, Jr. and wife Diane, Dan and his wife Deb, and Denise and her husband David Hunzeker, and the youngest kid, Debbie. I chatted with Dale, Denis, and Diane on the front steps of the ZCBJ Hall in rural DuBois as Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs dashed off polka after waltz after polka with their usual zest.
“My first dance, they didn’t have electricity here,” said Denise. “They used a generator,” The generator was powered by a tractor. Dale said, “There was no air conditioning, and it can be hot in there!” He gestured through the open double doors to the dance floor where kids whirled with each other, with parents, with grandparents. “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie,” sang Greg Blecha, originally a rather naughty song that has been modified into innocence. “I had my wedding reception here,” someone said from near the steps.
Came another voice, “I did, too. But now I’m divorced, so….” We chatted under the stars a while then went back into the hubbub.
The concession stand had a steady business of selling their delicious burgers. Consistent with a polka dance at the Hall, there was also beer involved. Meanwhile, people danced. Grandpa carried a tiny baby, gliding along, hopefully imprinting on that tiny brain the good feelings that go with a good dance. Older kids, teenagers, middle-aged, and even…old people smiled as they danced. Greg Blecha from time to time would go, “Wooo!” and hear answering calls from the floor. “Is everybody happy?” he would yell. Loud responses, including some “wooo” calls, came. In the middle of the Beer Barrel Polka, Greg yelled out, “Make some noise!” and everyone did.
There was the polka “Out Behind the Barn,” and that pretty politically-incorrect “Poopsie Woopsie,” and then there was the Chicken Dance. At a polka. Well, why not? The James family was celebrating a wedding, even if one that happened 75 years ago, before almost everyone at the Hall was born. Exceptions included Bob Blecha, who was up on the stage, and his sister Ilah, who sat at a table and watched, quietly pleased.
It was a good night, a very good night. I’ve never seen so many young people at a polka dance, and they were bright and exuberant. The James family is passing along their heritage to the next generation, hurray!
Anyone who wants to dance and to see the multiple generations out on that beautiful maple dance floor can go to the next James family dance. Remember, the Saturday of each Labor Day weekend.
And I have to add, polka lovers can also come to one of the Polka Parties at the Hall this Spring, one a month, with the lineup being the Leo Lonnie Orchestra in January, the Kenny Janak orchestra in March, Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs in March, and the season closer, the Mark Vhylidal Orchestra.
"PURE NEBRASKA" PROGRAM about the hall
AUGUST 2023
Greg Blecha, Bob Blecha, Mary Barker, Trey Blecha (behind), Jon Vanderford, Julie Fritch (behind), Alan Fritch, and Roy Mullin
PURE NEBRASKA COMES TO DU BOIS
By Sharla Sitzman for the Humboldt Standard and Pawnee Republican
Not long ago, I emailed Jon Vanderford, co-host of the popular Pure Nebraska television program, to suggest a couple of stories. One was the 150th anniversary of the Rock School (Pleasant Valley Country School, Dist. 32). The other was about the ZCBJ Hall in rural DuBois. And here he came! The episode about the Rock School aired on August 31. Jon will let us know when the story about the Hall comes up.
When Jon returns to this area – and I say “when” not “if” – we may have to have a bit of a party. A nice group of people gathered at the Hall for the visit. Jon first interviewed Mary Barker, who brought back the Hall after it had sat abandoned in the late 1970s and 1980s. The light inside was not quite right, so they went outside for that. They took along Bob Blecha, who has belonged to the ZCBJ Lodge here since his parents enrolled him as a baby. Inside, Alan and Julie Fritch, Greg Blecha, Trey Blecha, and Roy Mullin kicked back and talked about old times.
After he finished the interviews, Jon went around taking many pictures and short videos of things. Rather than having talking heads, he often overlays pictures as someone is talking. He took pictures of the building outside and in. Mary had a newspaper clipping from 1923 which was in Czech; it included a picture of the Hall. Jon took a picture of that. And he said, “I had no idea that this was an area with so many Czech immigrants!” He looked up and around. He walked around taking pictures of the beautiful painted canvas proscenium curtain, 102 years old. It bears the name of the lodge, vignettes of three figures from Czech history, and a scene of the castle above Prague.
Then came a surprise for Jon. I told him we would raise the curtain so he could see how it worked. He got his camera ready.
Unbeknownst to him, there was more than a curtain going up. From behind the curtain came the sounds of music. As Alan Fritch slowly raised the proscenium curtain, there in the front of the middle painted canvas curtain stood Trey, Bob, and Greg Blecha. Trey had his tuba and the other two were playing button accordions. They were, in fact, not only musicians but also band leaders. Bob Blecha formed the band Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs in 1963 – 60 years ago – and has played at the Hall innumerable times. His son Greg also plays, but has his own polka band, the Good Timers. And Trey Blecha is starting out. In fact, he has played a couple of dances in Table Rock this year.
“What are you going to play?” I had asked as the three prepared to go backstage. “Something Czech!” Trey said. “But what song?”
“Something Czech. That’s the name of the song,” called back Greg. And so as the curtain raised, they were playing “Something Czech” and it was something to see. And to hear. No microphones, no special lighting. Three of them playing in the conditions as it would have been 100 years ago. I’ll bet part of that shows up when the program airs. You’ll probably be as pleased with the spectacle as I was.
It was time for Jon to go. As he packed up, I asked how he liked our little Hall. “This is exactly what I wanted,” he said. I was glad to hear that. The hall is a quintessential piece of small town life, a dance hall sitting on a hill, on a rock road, with a bunch of descendants of Czech immigrants coming and going! We took a picture of the group to mark the event.
After Jon left, the little party continued. Talk turned, as always, to days past and to people remembered. Alan and Julie Fritch had come from Valparaiso for the event. “We had our first date here,” Julie said. Bob Blecha and Roy Mullin dispensed a few beverages. Beer happened to be one of them. Imagine that. Bob used to bartend for dances at the Hall. He remembers being kind of liberal with the alcohol content. “I knew I’d gone too far,” he said, “When [name withheld to preserve his dignity] came back and asked for more mixer!” Mary Barker gathered up her wonderful clippings and pictures and left with her husband Norm. A good time was had by all. It was an impromptu gathering that I think can happen again when Jon Vanderford returns to this area to do another Pure Nebraska episode.
You can watch the program online and also find past programs. Go the website of KOLN-KGIN television 10/11 website, www.1011now.com/community/pure-nebraska/
By Sharla Sitzman for the Humboldt Standard and Pawnee Republican
Not long ago, I emailed Jon Vanderford, co-host of the popular Pure Nebraska television program, to suggest a couple of stories. One was the 150th anniversary of the Rock School (Pleasant Valley Country School, Dist. 32). The other was about the ZCBJ Hall in rural DuBois. And here he came! The episode about the Rock School aired on August 31. Jon will let us know when the story about the Hall comes up.
When Jon returns to this area – and I say “when” not “if” – we may have to have a bit of a party. A nice group of people gathered at the Hall for the visit. Jon first interviewed Mary Barker, who brought back the Hall after it had sat abandoned in the late 1970s and 1980s. The light inside was not quite right, so they went outside for that. They took along Bob Blecha, who has belonged to the ZCBJ Lodge here since his parents enrolled him as a baby. Inside, Alan and Julie Fritch, Greg Blecha, Trey Blecha, and Roy Mullin kicked back and talked about old times.
After he finished the interviews, Jon went around taking many pictures and short videos of things. Rather than having talking heads, he often overlays pictures as someone is talking. He took pictures of the building outside and in. Mary had a newspaper clipping from 1923 which was in Czech; it included a picture of the Hall. Jon took a picture of that. And he said, “I had no idea that this was an area with so many Czech immigrants!” He looked up and around. He walked around taking pictures of the beautiful painted canvas proscenium curtain, 102 years old. It bears the name of the lodge, vignettes of three figures from Czech history, and a scene of the castle above Prague.
Then came a surprise for Jon. I told him we would raise the curtain so he could see how it worked. He got his camera ready.
Unbeknownst to him, there was more than a curtain going up. From behind the curtain came the sounds of music. As Alan Fritch slowly raised the proscenium curtain, there in the front of the middle painted canvas curtain stood Trey, Bob, and Greg Blecha. Trey had his tuba and the other two were playing button accordions. They were, in fact, not only musicians but also band leaders. Bob Blecha formed the band Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs in 1963 – 60 years ago – and has played at the Hall innumerable times. His son Greg also plays, but has his own polka band, the Good Timers. And Trey Blecha is starting out. In fact, he has played a couple of dances in Table Rock this year.
“What are you going to play?” I had asked as the three prepared to go backstage. “Something Czech!” Trey said. “But what song?”
“Something Czech. That’s the name of the song,” called back Greg. And so as the curtain raised, they were playing “Something Czech” and it was something to see. And to hear. No microphones, no special lighting. Three of them playing in the conditions as it would have been 100 years ago. I’ll bet part of that shows up when the program airs. You’ll probably be as pleased with the spectacle as I was.
It was time for Jon to go. As he packed up, I asked how he liked our little Hall. “This is exactly what I wanted,” he said. I was glad to hear that. The hall is a quintessential piece of small town life, a dance hall sitting on a hill, on a rock road, with a bunch of descendants of Czech immigrants coming and going! We took a picture of the group to mark the event.
After Jon left, the little party continued. Talk turned, as always, to days past and to people remembered. Alan and Julie Fritch had come from Valparaiso for the event. “We had our first date here,” Julie said. Bob Blecha and Roy Mullin dispensed a few beverages. Beer happened to be one of them. Imagine that. Bob used to bartend for dances at the Hall. He remembers being kind of liberal with the alcohol content. “I knew I’d gone too far,” he said, “When [name withheld to preserve his dignity] came back and asked for more mixer!” Mary Barker gathered up her wonderful clippings and pictures and left with her husband Norm. A good time was had by all. It was an impromptu gathering that I think can happen again when Jon Vanderford returns to this area to do another Pure Nebraska episode.
You can watch the program online and also find past programs. Go the website of KOLN-KGIN television 10/11 website, www.1011now.com/community/pure-nebraska/
LEO LONNIE ORCHESTRA
APRIL 2023 POLKA PARTY
LAST POLKA PARTY OF 2023
By Sharla Sitzman for the Humboldt Standard & Pawnee Republican
First, let me tell you about the last band to play in the Spring Polka Party series in rural Du Bois at the hall of the Zapadni Ceska Bratrska Jednota. That’s Czech for Western Fraternal Life Association but it doesn’t cross the tongue with nearly the same snap as the acronym ZCBJ. The Hall is 102 years old and full of the spirit of long ago dances. Many a child fell asleep on a stack of coats in the old cloak room and a few, the “two chair” kids, slept on the stage across two chairs as their musician parents played.
Lonnie Piitz, the bandleader of the last band to play at the ZBJ Hall this Spring, the Leo Lonnie Orchestra, has never played at the Hall in the 32 years since he and his dad Leo founded the group. However, he brought his own history. Lonnie played his first gig with one of the most famous of Nebraska bandleaders, Ernie Kucera. Lonnie was in the 6th grade. He was scared. He got over it. He has played under many bandleaders since, including Al Grebnick, Mark Vhylidal, Kevin Koopman’s All Star Band, and many more. He has also played under someone I knew and loved, the late great ineffable Eddie Hanna, Table Rock Class of 1945. Eddie Hanna formed the Tommy Bishop Band which played a program much like Lonnie’s of polka, waltzes, and big band music.
Lonnie brought far more history than his own. He brought Ernie Kucera’s “book.” A book is a collection of sheet music and includes the music for all the instruments. This particular book is a treasure of music collected over a lifetime. As is not uncommon, most of it is written out by hand. Lonnie bought the book some years ago from Mike Brecka, who, when Ernie retired, had been the band’s second trumpet. Mike bought it from Ernie and when Mike’s health went down hill, he offered to sell the book to Lonnie. Lonnie said, “Since Ernie was the first band I ever played with, I didn’t think twice.” Lonnie had to make an investment other than money. He said, “the first part of the book was missing, so my tenor player and I wrote out the missing parts.” There are over 750 songs. And they brought them all. Each music stand had a stack of sheet music literally a foot tall. When Lonnie called out a song, each musician fingered through that stack to pull the music to the top.
Now let me tell you about the people on the floor. There were a lot of them. At one table sat Edward and Nancy Daniel of Omaha, curators of the Czech-Slovak Museum there. His grandfather, Frank Daniel, helped build the Hall. Bob Stepanek and the Tomek Brothers (Edward, Milan, and George) sat in the back with extended family. Their grandfather Otto Stepanek, also helped build the Hall.
Old musicians came, too. They had played in many a band, the likes of which included the Lad Trecek Band, the Steve Stastny Band, and, of course, Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs, a band that is over 50 years old. Bob Blecha – “Bouncing Bob” took the floor at a break, noting that all the surviving musicians of the original Bouncing Czechs were there. He called them to the front. There was “Table Rock” Bob Blecha, Milan, Edward, and Elsie Tomek, and Bob Stepanek. At another break, Mary Barker stood and gave the story of how the Hall was saved.
All ages were there, from about 2 up. Ilah Tomek of Humboldt came with daughter Nancy to celebrate her 100th birthday.
The dance floor ebbed and flowed. Many danced, many stayed at the tables around the floor to watch and to visit, and to piece on left overs from the spectacular pot luck that had begun the party. It was a gorgeous day outside. The January dance took place on a bitter cold day but even then the light filtering in the windows lifted spirits. An afternoon dance in a light-filled hall, whether the day be gray or bright, is something special. This was the same natural light that illuminated smiling faces 100 years ago.
The dance was sponsored by Cat Bernadt Tucker of Vienna, Virginia, dedicated to her parents Carl and Luella Bernadt, who loved to dance. Cat and her son, granddaughter, and sisters were there. The dance was also sponsored by the children of Milan and Elsie Tomek, and all of them were there, too, including Mark, who made a marathon drive from western Nebraska to make it in time. The Tomek kids dedicated the dance to their parents, who had both played in Czech bands for decades, 27 years for Milan and 50 for Elsie.
Dances played by the Leo Lonnie Orchestra ran the gamut and the dancers did, too. Some were delightfully smooth, including Alan and Julie Fritch of Valparaiso, Greg Blecha, and “Bouncing” Bob Blecha. Others were learning, and both awkward and persistent. There was no Flying Dutchman this day but the mood was happy and gay. Every once in a while, Greg Blecha would yell out “Whooo!” A “Whoo” would come from the dance floor, sometimes more than one. Whoo whoo! In a place other than the ZCBJ Hall, some might call “Marco!” “Polo!” but if you are at a polka party you call out Whoo and dance on with a smile and the bandleader calls out, “Is everybody happy?!” Whoooo! And everyone applauded as Lonnie called out another song to the musicians, who then thumbed through Ernie Kucera’s book to find it and to play on.
This is the third year that the Hall has seen a Spring Polka Party series. Each month, January through June, a parade of homemade dishes streamed in the door for a potluck, a band’s trailer backed up to the door to unload a stream of cases with instruments and equipment, and everyone settled in. It started with the band of the ebullient Brad Husak, who was thrilled to play the Hall for the first time. Then came the Mark Vhylidal Band, then Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs, and final this one, with the Leo Lonnie Orchestra.
People spun and glided and yelled and applauded enthusiastically under the bright red, white, & blue bunting. Spectators crowded the tables and chairs around the dance floor, many drifting from place to place to visit. At one point there was standing room only. As one of the long tables from the potluck was removed, more chairs were brought out to fill the space until there were no more chairs. Some people stayed for a short time, others came in mid-dance, and it is hard to say how many people were there, but certainly more than 100.
At each dance it seems there is a residual crowd who doesn’t want to go home, and a band that doesn’t want to quit. This was the same. Lonnie called out the last dance. After that there was a “last” last dance and so on, until finally it did come to an end. The band began packing up, and it is a big deal now days, with cases for the many instruments, for sound and lighting equipment, music stands, the sheet music. One by one things moved off the stage and filled the vestibule, the van pulled up, all was loaded, and then they were off down the rock road toward the highway.
Today the band and the dancers and spectators come in cars and pick up trucks that have seat belts and, some, back up cameras and the like. In the old days, the bands and the crowd came by buggy and wagon, by cars that ran on tires with tubes. Otto Stepanek came on horseback if the weather was bad, carrying his baritone horn over the saddle. But they came for the same thing, fun and dancing in a dance hall that has remained special. Dances have been by day and by night. The dance this day was in a sunlight dance hall on the same beautiful maple floor with a fantastic band. To quote Greg Blecha: “Whoooo!”
The series will go on. Next year the line up is Leo Lonnie Orchestra in January. In February will be the Kenny Janak Band. Next up will be Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs, and then Mark Vhylidal Band. Sponsors have come forward for most of the bands. (Sponsorship is $250.)
By Sharla Sitzman for the Humboldt Standard & Pawnee Republican
First, let me tell you about the last band to play in the Spring Polka Party series in rural Du Bois at the hall of the Zapadni Ceska Bratrska Jednota. That’s Czech for Western Fraternal Life Association but it doesn’t cross the tongue with nearly the same snap as the acronym ZCBJ. The Hall is 102 years old and full of the spirit of long ago dances. Many a child fell asleep on a stack of coats in the old cloak room and a few, the “two chair” kids, slept on the stage across two chairs as their musician parents played.
Lonnie Piitz, the bandleader of the last band to play at the ZBJ Hall this Spring, the Leo Lonnie Orchestra, has never played at the Hall in the 32 years since he and his dad Leo founded the group. However, he brought his own history. Lonnie played his first gig with one of the most famous of Nebraska bandleaders, Ernie Kucera. Lonnie was in the 6th grade. He was scared. He got over it. He has played under many bandleaders since, including Al Grebnick, Mark Vhylidal, Kevin Koopman’s All Star Band, and many more. He has also played under someone I knew and loved, the late great ineffable Eddie Hanna, Table Rock Class of 1945. Eddie Hanna formed the Tommy Bishop Band which played a program much like Lonnie’s of polka, waltzes, and big band music.
Lonnie brought far more history than his own. He brought Ernie Kucera’s “book.” A book is a collection of sheet music and includes the music for all the instruments. This particular book is a treasure of music collected over a lifetime. As is not uncommon, most of it is written out by hand. Lonnie bought the book some years ago from Mike Brecka, who, when Ernie retired, had been the band’s second trumpet. Mike bought it from Ernie and when Mike’s health went down hill, he offered to sell the book to Lonnie. Lonnie said, “Since Ernie was the first band I ever played with, I didn’t think twice.” Lonnie had to make an investment other than money. He said, “the first part of the book was missing, so my tenor player and I wrote out the missing parts.” There are over 750 songs. And they brought them all. Each music stand had a stack of sheet music literally a foot tall. When Lonnie called out a song, each musician fingered through that stack to pull the music to the top.
Now let me tell you about the people on the floor. There were a lot of them. At one table sat Edward and Nancy Daniel of Omaha, curators of the Czech-Slovak Museum there. His grandfather, Frank Daniel, helped build the Hall. Bob Stepanek and the Tomek Brothers (Edward, Milan, and George) sat in the back with extended family. Their grandfather Otto Stepanek, also helped build the Hall.
Old musicians came, too. They had played in many a band, the likes of which included the Lad Trecek Band, the Steve Stastny Band, and, of course, Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs, a band that is over 50 years old. Bob Blecha – “Bouncing Bob” took the floor at a break, noting that all the surviving musicians of the original Bouncing Czechs were there. He called them to the front. There was “Table Rock” Bob Blecha, Milan, Edward, and Elsie Tomek, and Bob Stepanek. At another break, Mary Barker stood and gave the story of how the Hall was saved.
All ages were there, from about 2 up. Ilah Tomek of Humboldt came with daughter Nancy to celebrate her 100th birthday.
The dance floor ebbed and flowed. Many danced, many stayed at the tables around the floor to watch and to visit, and to piece on left overs from the spectacular pot luck that had begun the party. It was a gorgeous day outside. The January dance took place on a bitter cold day but even then the light filtering in the windows lifted spirits. An afternoon dance in a light-filled hall, whether the day be gray or bright, is something special. This was the same natural light that illuminated smiling faces 100 years ago.
The dance was sponsored by Cat Bernadt Tucker of Vienna, Virginia, dedicated to her parents Carl and Luella Bernadt, who loved to dance. Cat and her son, granddaughter, and sisters were there. The dance was also sponsored by the children of Milan and Elsie Tomek, and all of them were there, too, including Mark, who made a marathon drive from western Nebraska to make it in time. The Tomek kids dedicated the dance to their parents, who had both played in Czech bands for decades, 27 years for Milan and 50 for Elsie.
Dances played by the Leo Lonnie Orchestra ran the gamut and the dancers did, too. Some were delightfully smooth, including Alan and Julie Fritch of Valparaiso, Greg Blecha, and “Bouncing” Bob Blecha. Others were learning, and both awkward and persistent. There was no Flying Dutchman this day but the mood was happy and gay. Every once in a while, Greg Blecha would yell out “Whooo!” A “Whoo” would come from the dance floor, sometimes more than one. Whoo whoo! In a place other than the ZCBJ Hall, some might call “Marco!” “Polo!” but if you are at a polka party you call out Whoo and dance on with a smile and the bandleader calls out, “Is everybody happy?!” Whoooo! And everyone applauded as Lonnie called out another song to the musicians, who then thumbed through Ernie Kucera’s book to find it and to play on.
This is the third year that the Hall has seen a Spring Polka Party series. Each month, January through June, a parade of homemade dishes streamed in the door for a potluck, a band’s trailer backed up to the door to unload a stream of cases with instruments and equipment, and everyone settled in. It started with the band of the ebullient Brad Husak, who was thrilled to play the Hall for the first time. Then came the Mark Vhylidal Band, then Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs, and final this one, with the Leo Lonnie Orchestra.
People spun and glided and yelled and applauded enthusiastically under the bright red, white, & blue bunting. Spectators crowded the tables and chairs around the dance floor, many drifting from place to place to visit. At one point there was standing room only. As one of the long tables from the potluck was removed, more chairs were brought out to fill the space until there were no more chairs. Some people stayed for a short time, others came in mid-dance, and it is hard to say how many people were there, but certainly more than 100.
At each dance it seems there is a residual crowd who doesn’t want to go home, and a band that doesn’t want to quit. This was the same. Lonnie called out the last dance. After that there was a “last” last dance and so on, until finally it did come to an end. The band began packing up, and it is a big deal now days, with cases for the many instruments, for sound and lighting equipment, music stands, the sheet music. One by one things moved off the stage and filled the vestibule, the van pulled up, all was loaded, and then they were off down the rock road toward the highway.
Today the band and the dancers and spectators come in cars and pick up trucks that have seat belts and, some, back up cameras and the like. In the old days, the bands and the crowd came by buggy and wagon, by cars that ran on tires with tubes. Otto Stepanek came on horseback if the weather was bad, carrying his baritone horn over the saddle. But they came for the same thing, fun and dancing in a dance hall that has remained special. Dances have been by day and by night. The dance this day was in a sunlight dance hall on the same beautiful maple floor with a fantastic band. To quote Greg Blecha: “Whoooo!”
The series will go on. Next year the line up is Leo Lonnie Orchestra in January. In February will be the Kenny Janak Band. Next up will be Bob Blecha and the Bouncing Czechs, and then Mark Vhylidal Band. Sponsors have come forward for most of the bands. (Sponsorship is $250.)
“Bouncing” Bob Blecha and the surviving members of the band when it was established over 50 years ago: Behind Bob are Elsie Tomek,”Table Rock” Bob Blecha, Milan Tomek, Edward Tomek, and Bob Stepanek. At the April 2023 polka party.
Roy Wittwer visits and Frank and “Table Rock” Bob Blecha. At the April 2023 polka party
BRAD HUSAK BAND
JANUARY 2023 POLKA PARTY
By Sharla Sitzman for Pawnee Republican & Humboldt Standard
Two baritones played sweetly backstage, Greg Blecha and Galen Beck, easing into the Chimney Sweep Polka as a duet. The dance was over, most of the crowd gone, and these two couldn’t stop. The bass horn quietly joined in. Those left on the dance floor came forward and stood and swayed with the music and knew that this was something special. Greg nodded at Brad Husak, the band leader, who had begun packing up. Brad looked and listened, then picked up one of his accordions and went over and added his own notes. When the song finally came to a close, there was a collective sigh. A day that had started in the bitter cold was ending with a glow.
Greg and Galen had been grinning like school boys all afternoon. They had been playing together since they were school boys of 12 or 13 years old, and they are not young now, so they’ve had a lot of practice. They were pleased to be there playing with the Brad Husak Band. But wait, you say, don’t they play with Bob Blecha and the Bounching Czechs. Well, yeah, but if you know Czech musicians, you know they play around, filling in here and there, stepping in to sing or play a song even if they’re not part of the band.
As I drove toward Du Bois that morning, I wondered, Would anyone come? Events were being canceled right and left because of the cold. Brad had called Rob to be sure the dance was on. “I guess so,” Rob told him.
Mary and Mary (Mary Barker and Mary Droge) and their obedient and helpful spouses had the potluck table all set up by the time I got there at 11 am, an hour before it was to start. We sat on one of the built in benches that 100 years of dancers at rested on and waited. In walked a man and he was greeted very warmly for having come out in the cold! All breathed a sigh of relief, as more and more arrived bearing casseroles and cakes.
The potluck stretched down two tables, and everything was homemade but the chips. 2 roasters of soup, Hash brown potato soup & chili, and rob brought hot chili, the sides somebody brought orange jello with shredded carrots then in the side room there were the homemade desserts – including two big pans of cinnamon rolls,
The band showed up then, carting in case after heavy case and lifting them onto the stage. The stage was soon strewn with speakers, microphones, chairs, music stands, and instruments. It was the full band of five, not the usual trio, and not only was there the trap drum set and bass horn but also horns – trombone, a couple of trumpets, a couple baritones – and Brad’s three accordions.
As they started to set up, I talked with Terry Hynek, the drummer and asked if he had ever played the Hall before. He had. “It was a while ago,” he said. “How long?” “I remember they had a generator outside for electricity.” I told him the hall had been wired about 30 years ago, and abandoned for about 10 before that. “It was that long ago?” he asked, and added. “Uh oh.” Yep, we all get older. It turned out that everyone in the band had played the Hall except the leader, Brad Husak. Brad was stoked. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time,” he said. Brad has been playing for over 30 years and played a lot of places. He said, “Playing the Hall has been on my bucket list since way back.”
As the band set up, the historic proscenium curtain was lowered. It is a painted canvas curtain 100 years old and someone sitting behind me noticed. “Oh, they’ve got the curtain down!” It is a “new” feature of the hall. The curtain had sat back stage for decades until the Pawnee County Promotional Network paid to have it, and a mid-stage curtain, rehung in late 2021.
Finally, it was 1 o’clock. The band was tucked away behind the curtain. I made a last minute check. “Ready?” Brad nodded.
In front, I took one of Brad’s microphones to introduce the small crew who kept the Hall going. President Rob Tichy, Vice President Roy Mullin, Mary and Norm Barker, Gary and Mary Droge, Dollie Shafer, and Macy Coffey.
Then I introduced a man who needed no introductions, Joe Stehlik. Joe had taken up both sponsorships for this dance, and dedicated it to the ineffable Eddie Hanna. He started, “I didn’t expect to talk today. When I was asked to say a few words about Eddie Hanna, my first thought was…No. No, I can’t say a few words.” Then he went on to explain that probably no one alive could possibly describe Eddie in a few words. He was, well, ineffable, i.e., too great to be described in words. Still he tried. Many a person in that room – if not virtually all – had danced to Eddie Hanna and his Tommy Bishop Orchestra, had listened to Eddie’s charming stories about growing up in Table Rock, and had admired him. He was beloved.
On cue, the band started playing and Trey Blecha slowly raised the curtain. It was a stirring sight. “I just love that,” Greg Blecha had said when I told him we were going to do the curtain raising again. The curtain rises on the band playing – it’s like something from a movie!
And so on a bitter cold Sunday afternoon in the country, folks sat at tables and listened to the band and visited and munched on the glorious leftovers from the potluck. Outside the day was gray and white, inside it was not. Not everyone stayed the whole time. Bob Stepanek, my favorite bass horn player of all time, stopped in and sat in the back to listen. Old friends went to greet him and chat. Edna Wittwer, who used to play with the Steve Stastny Band, sat and they smiled together, nodding as they remembered things I’m sure.
Milan Tomek, also another of the old Stastny Band, was there with his lovely friend Leona Pepper, daughter Pam Sunneberg, and grandson Matt. And of course there were the Bob Blechas, both of them, Bouncing Bob and Table Rock Bob. They are cousins, and they and Milan and Bob started the Bouncing Czechs back in 1963.
At one point, the dance floor was clear except for the Bobs, one dancing with wife Frances and the other with granddaughter Natalie.
Meanwhile on stage, the three in front were grinning up a storm. Gregg Blecha and Galen Beck acted like kids in the back of a third grade classroom, getting away with someone secret but special, sharing a joke or just happy to be there. Brad looked out over the crowd as he played and sang and beamed. The crowd mostly sat to listen but enough dancers were out to make it interested. Alan and Julie Fritch, who met at a dance right in this building, danced almost every dance, and Bob and Frances Blecha spent a lot of time out there, too. By the end of the dance, I was visiting with Fran and Bob came swooping across the dance floor after having danced with someone else. He gestured to Fran to get out on the floor with him. “No. I’m tired,” she said. He pleaded and looked unhappy but finally went off for another partner. Fran showed me a picture she had just taken of Bob and Bob together. “I’ve been wanting to get them together in a picture for a long time,” she said.
At 4 pm, the scheduled time for the dance to end, the band kept playing. And playing. At 4:15, Brad announced they were having too much fun to quit, and they played another set. Then, as Brad leaned over to start packing up his accordions, Greg and Galen got up and went over to stand by Jonny Halama at the bass horn. Greg played some opening strains of the Chimmey Sweep Polka, Galen grinned and joined in, and then there was a sweet trio going with the basshj0orn. Brad paused. Greg gestured. Oh heck. And Brad headed over to join.
And that’s how it all ended with a glow. The first polka party of the season.
Thank you to the series sponsors, the Pawnee County Promotional Network and the ZCBJ Lodge 101, and thanks to Joe Stehlik for sponsoring this most excellent of bands! The next dance is Sunday afternoon, February 26, with the Mark Vyhlidal Band. It’s gonna be good!
Two baritones played sweetly backstage, Greg Blecha and Galen Beck, easing into the Chimney Sweep Polka as a duet. The dance was over, most of the crowd gone, and these two couldn’t stop. The bass horn quietly joined in. Those left on the dance floor came forward and stood and swayed with the music and knew that this was something special. Greg nodded at Brad Husak, the band leader, who had begun packing up. Brad looked and listened, then picked up one of his accordions and went over and added his own notes. When the song finally came to a close, there was a collective sigh. A day that had started in the bitter cold was ending with a glow.
Greg and Galen had been grinning like school boys all afternoon. They had been playing together since they were school boys of 12 or 13 years old, and they are not young now, so they’ve had a lot of practice. They were pleased to be there playing with the Brad Husak Band. But wait, you say, don’t they play with Bob Blecha and the Bounching Czechs. Well, yeah, but if you know Czech musicians, you know they play around, filling in here and there, stepping in to sing or play a song even if they’re not part of the band.
As I drove toward Du Bois that morning, I wondered, Would anyone come? Events were being canceled right and left because of the cold. Brad had called Rob to be sure the dance was on. “I guess so,” Rob told him.
Mary and Mary (Mary Barker and Mary Droge) and their obedient and helpful spouses had the potluck table all set up by the time I got there at 11 am, an hour before it was to start. We sat on one of the built in benches that 100 years of dancers at rested on and waited. In walked a man and he was greeted very warmly for having come out in the cold! All breathed a sigh of relief, as more and more arrived bearing casseroles and cakes.
The potluck stretched down two tables, and everything was homemade but the chips. 2 roasters of soup, Hash brown potato soup & chili, and rob brought hot chili, the sides somebody brought orange jello with shredded carrots then in the side room there were the homemade desserts – including two big pans of cinnamon rolls,
The band showed up then, carting in case after heavy case and lifting them onto the stage. The stage was soon strewn with speakers, microphones, chairs, music stands, and instruments. It was the full band of five, not the usual trio, and not only was there the trap drum set and bass horn but also horns – trombone, a couple of trumpets, a couple baritones – and Brad’s three accordions.
As they started to set up, I talked with Terry Hynek, the drummer and asked if he had ever played the Hall before. He had. “It was a while ago,” he said. “How long?” “I remember they had a generator outside for electricity.” I told him the hall had been wired about 30 years ago, and abandoned for about 10 before that. “It was that long ago?” he asked, and added. “Uh oh.” Yep, we all get older. It turned out that everyone in the band had played the Hall except the leader, Brad Husak. Brad was stoked. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time,” he said. Brad has been playing for over 30 years and played a lot of places. He said, “Playing the Hall has been on my bucket list since way back.”
As the band set up, the historic proscenium curtain was lowered. It is a painted canvas curtain 100 years old and someone sitting behind me noticed. “Oh, they’ve got the curtain down!” It is a “new” feature of the hall. The curtain had sat back stage for decades until the Pawnee County Promotional Network paid to have it, and a mid-stage curtain, rehung in late 2021.
Finally, it was 1 o’clock. The band was tucked away behind the curtain. I made a last minute check. “Ready?” Brad nodded.
In front, I took one of Brad’s microphones to introduce the small crew who kept the Hall going. President Rob Tichy, Vice President Roy Mullin, Mary and Norm Barker, Gary and Mary Droge, Dollie Shafer, and Macy Coffey.
Then I introduced a man who needed no introductions, Joe Stehlik. Joe had taken up both sponsorships for this dance, and dedicated it to the ineffable Eddie Hanna. He started, “I didn’t expect to talk today. When I was asked to say a few words about Eddie Hanna, my first thought was…No. No, I can’t say a few words.” Then he went on to explain that probably no one alive could possibly describe Eddie in a few words. He was, well, ineffable, i.e., too great to be described in words. Still he tried. Many a person in that room – if not virtually all – had danced to Eddie Hanna and his Tommy Bishop Orchestra, had listened to Eddie’s charming stories about growing up in Table Rock, and had admired him. He was beloved.
On cue, the band started playing and Trey Blecha slowly raised the curtain. It was a stirring sight. “I just love that,” Greg Blecha had said when I told him we were going to do the curtain raising again. The curtain rises on the band playing – it’s like something from a movie!
And so on a bitter cold Sunday afternoon in the country, folks sat at tables and listened to the band and visited and munched on the glorious leftovers from the potluck. Outside the day was gray and white, inside it was not. Not everyone stayed the whole time. Bob Stepanek, my favorite bass horn player of all time, stopped in and sat in the back to listen. Old friends went to greet him and chat. Edna Wittwer, who used to play with the Steve Stastny Band, sat and they smiled together, nodding as they remembered things I’m sure.
Milan Tomek, also another of the old Stastny Band, was there with his lovely friend Leona Pepper, daughter Pam Sunneberg, and grandson Matt. And of course there were the Bob Blechas, both of them, Bouncing Bob and Table Rock Bob. They are cousins, and they and Milan and Bob started the Bouncing Czechs back in 1963.
At one point, the dance floor was clear except for the Bobs, one dancing with wife Frances and the other with granddaughter Natalie.
Meanwhile on stage, the three in front were grinning up a storm. Gregg Blecha and Galen Beck acted like kids in the back of a third grade classroom, getting away with someone secret but special, sharing a joke or just happy to be there. Brad looked out over the crowd as he played and sang and beamed. The crowd mostly sat to listen but enough dancers were out to make it interested. Alan and Julie Fritch, who met at a dance right in this building, danced almost every dance, and Bob and Frances Blecha spent a lot of time out there, too. By the end of the dance, I was visiting with Fran and Bob came swooping across the dance floor after having danced with someone else. He gestured to Fran to get out on the floor with him. “No. I’m tired,” she said. He pleaded and looked unhappy but finally went off for another partner. Fran showed me a picture she had just taken of Bob and Bob together. “I’ve been wanting to get them together in a picture for a long time,” she said.
At 4 pm, the scheduled time for the dance to end, the band kept playing. And playing. At 4:15, Brad announced they were having too much fun to quit, and they played another set. Then, as Brad leaned over to start packing up his accordions, Greg and Galen got up and went over to stand by Jonny Halama at the bass horn. Greg played some opening strains of the Chimmey Sweep Polka, Galen grinned and joined in, and then there was a sweet trio going with the basshj0orn. Brad paused. Greg gestured. Oh heck. And Brad headed over to join.
And that’s how it all ended with a glow. The first polka party of the season.
Thank you to the series sponsors, the Pawnee County Promotional Network and the ZCBJ Lodge 101, and thanks to Joe Stehlik for sponsoring this most excellent of bands! The next dance is Sunday afternoon, February 26, with the Mark Vyhlidal Band. It’s gonna be good!
Pawnee Bob and Table Rock Bob Blecha, at the January 2023 polka party. Photo 10923,
Joe Stehlik, Table Rock Bob Blecha, and Trey Blecha listening. Photo 10924.
The Brad Husak Band onstage at the ZCBJ Hall, January 2023. Photo 10925.
The Brad Husak Band onstage at the ZCBJ Hall, Photo 10926
Backstage with the Brad Husak Band at the ZCBJ Hall, January 2023. Photo 10927.
Having too much fun to leave. After the concert, Galen Beck and Greg Blecha play a sweet duet to the joy of those who had lingered. Photo 10928
the jim kucera band, april 2022 polka party
the barry boyce band, march 2022 POLKA PARTY
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Drinking a toast
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Adam Blecha
BOB BLECHA & THE BOUNCING CZECHS, FEBRUARY 2022 POLKA PARTY
ANGIE KRIZ & THE POLKATOONS, JANUARY 2022 POLKA PARTY
Angie Kriz & the Polkatoons do a selfie in front of the historic proscenium curtain. January 2022
Evelyn Pettinger and Angie Kriz. Evelyn, then 102 years old, grew up dancing at the Hall, said she danced every dance!
Angie Kriz and the Polkatoons on stage, Trey Blecha sitting in, foreground
ZCBJ volunteers Mary Drogge (foreground) and Mary Barker.
Roy Wittwer visits with Fran and "Table Rock Bob" Blecha
CELEBRATION OF THE
100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HALL
DECEMBER 5, 2021
sPOnsored by ZCBJ Lodge 101, Pawnee County Promotional Network, & Pawnee County Arts Council
The newly re-hung proscenium and midstage curtains were dedicated, the Czechlanders Orchestra played, great raffle prizes awarded, and a good time was had by all.
Trey Blecha plays in front of the newly re-hung midstage curtain
silent movie night
november 2021
with acclaimed ragtime pianist
marty mincer
sponsored by pawnee county promotional network & the pawnee county arts council
The crowd gathers for the movie
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Pianist Marty Mincer (center) with Marcia Borcher, president of sponsor Pawnee County Promotional Network, and Sharla Sitzman, president of sponsor Pawnee County Arts Council
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