A Trip to Kansas for a Czech Festival! :)

Well I made my first out of state appearance as the Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen this weekend. :) I wanted to travel around Nebraska as much as possible as the Nebraska queen this year but I also wanted to make it to a few of the other state's festivals to see how different things are everywhere you go. We had to get up super early so we could be on the road by 5:30am (which turned into 6am with me and mom traveling. LOL) I wanted to sleep the whole way down there but couldn't fall asleep for the first hour or so. I finally crashed after we grabbed some breakfast in York. I was going to put my hair in curlers on the way but my curlers took too much power so we couldn't get them powered on. LOL! DANG IT! When we pulled up I got dressed (the rest of the way...Donna and Sandy could see me trying to get dressed in the back of the van...it worked much better when I was six...or any time before I was 6'1". HEHE!) It started to sprinkle so we were hoping to make it through the parade before it rained. Well that definitely didn't happen. I did OK keeping myself somewhat dry but it wasn't the most fun parade we've been through this year. My mom had just made me new signs to go with my Nebraska signs so she found someone with Saran wrap to cover them with. :) After the parade we went down to the beer garden to hear the polka band play. Brad knew the band leader Dave Salmons so he sent out a song to us and introduced me as the Nebraska Queen. We walked around the park a bit to see all the vendors and I got a t-shirt made. I had them put Wilson Czech Festival 2009 on the front and the back has a list of things about being Czech. (I'll post what it says later.) Mom started being sneaky after this and we figured out that she was buying Brad a hat but wasn't sure what exactly it would say etc. We went to get some food and found out their buffet was running out. We thought there would be enough to get a bit but it was very well picked over. Oh well...live and learn. :) After we ate we headed back to the beer garden/vendors. Dave let Brad play a few songs with the band and of course they sounded really good. After he played a bit and had put the accordion back down Mom walked up and I knew what she was up to...surprise surprise....he asked Me and Brad to come up for The Blue Skirt Waltz. My voice hurt a bit and I had a headache so I didn't really want to sing but...all in a day's work as queen right? After that we went back to the vendors and had our picture taken in one of those cutouts where you put your face in. They were little Czech dancers. I started getting tired and hot so we grabbed some food and headed to the Pageant. There were only 2 contestants competing for the Kansas Czech-Slovak Queen title this year and they both did a great job. Once again...I don't envy the judges in any of these pageants. I couldn't believe how fast the pageant went with only 2 contestants! A few of the things that I noticed that are very different from our pageant are that it is indoors and they have the contestants walk off stage during kroj modeling so the audience gets a better look. Their judges sit all the way in the balcony so I hope that they got to see the beautiful kroj up closer (maybe during private interview?) They also give a huge variety of prizes to the contestants (luggage, crystal, gift certificates, etc.) We knew there were Vocasek's in Wilson at one time and we kept running into the name. We saw a plaque for Dorothy Vocasek in the Opera House and a certificate for Peppy Joe Vocasek. Dad went out to the graveyard and found several Vocasek graves. We also got to see Peppy Joe's old barber shop which is now the home of a family in town. We took some pictures in front of it. We heard stories about him being a POW and being thrown on a pile of bodies when someone saw him moved. Had they not been there at that moment he wouldn't have lived. Dad and the new owner of the house exchanged information so hopefully we may hear more about him someday. After chatting for a while we headed for the car to head home. It was a great day with some of my favorite Czech people. :) (Yes...SOME of them...there are too too many!) I'm so excited to have met Aubrey and so glad to have seen their pageant.

So far I have met Aubrey the 2009-10 Kansas Czech-Slovak Queen and talked to Jennifer the 2009-10 South Dakota Czech-Slovak Queen. These are 2 of the girls who will be in Wilber with me next year. The only one I haven't talked to (that I know has been crowned so far)is Stephanie from Wisconsin and I actually emailed their pageant director and asked her to send my information on so maybe I can talk to her soon too. Who knows she may even be coming to Wilber! :) I'm so excited!!!

Just a few words of wisdom from myself and Shandra Korbelik (a past Nebraska Queen.) Well we were talking...you know how they say that the best way to a mans heart is through his stomach. Well we decided this is a lie because it works for us too. We have revised this phrase and it is now "The Best Way to a Czechs Heart is Through Their Stomach!" Keep that in mind ladies and gents! :0)

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Bickford Cottage Visit

I don't get to do a whole lot around Lincoln so I'm always excited to be invited to events around Lincoln. Bickford Cottage contacted my mom a few months back asking if the Lincoln Czech-Slovak Queen would perform for their Czech week in July. (For those of you who don't know...my mom is the President of the Lincoln Czechs this year.) I started working with them and agreed to come on the 22nd of July. When I walked in on Wed it was hilarious. The activities coordinator announced that she had invited the Lincoln Queen to come and speak and couldn't believe that she just didn't show up like this. But luckily the Nebraska Queen was here to take her place. Then she said oh wait...that's because she's the same person. :) I thought that was pretty cute. I spoke about what I've done as the Lincoln Queen previously and my plans for the future as the newly crowned Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen. I told them about how I was raised with my Czech heritage being an important part of my life and have chosen to keep it as a big part of my life as I've gotten older. I told them about the pageant and all of the girls in Clarkson. I was proud to again get to describe my kroj a bit and show of some of the very important pieces to me. I showed them what Anne had embroidered and then they said the Choraliers would be there that evening. I told them to tell her how beautiful her work was. After talking for a while I performed my talent for them and even did my old talent from a few years ago. They had kolaces for a snack and I walked around a bit in case anyone had questions or wanted to see my kroj up close. I had to rush out of there because I had to be back to work. It was a great visit and I told them I would love to come back again next year. Now I'm preparing for a longer trip all the way down to Wilson, KS on Saturday.


Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Another Busy Weekend! Gretna, Western, and Dwight

Well another busy Czech filled weekend! :) We started the weekend by going to Gretna for a parade. Sandy Schnakenberg from the Omaha Czech Cultural Club and the State Pageant Committee asked if I could come so I was excited to get to see her there. They had one of the Omaha members on a small float playing the accordion right in front of me. I couldn't believe how big the parade was! It was long and there were TONS of people. It was great to see Sandy again and it was the first time that my Lincoln Prince and Princess were able to come to an event with me. I've been able to have one of them come to one event but never both. They had fun but we had some typical brother/sister moments. They were arguing over who had more people on their side of the car etc. HAHA! They did a good job and then we had a break because we didn't have another event until that evening.

I had lunch with some of my friends at Grisanti's and didn't have time to go home and change or I would have had to cancel on them...so I did what I had to and had lunch in kroj. :) I got some funny looks but we got some first class service. ;)We also had several people walk by and ask to read my sash or asked why I was dressed up etc. LOL! I had a quick 20 min nap when we got home and had to get back into kroj to head to Western for the parade.

I got up and started to get dressed to go to the parade but had to redo my hair etc and surprise surprise...I wasn't ready when Brad came to pick me up. HEHE! I'm so glad he is understanding with me. I rushed around and got everything that I needed and hopped in the car to head to Western. Of course he wouldn't let me forget my accordion so he grabbed it on the way out the door. We got to the parade a bit early (see I wasn't running late...I was just getting us there at a good time so we wouldn't be waiting for too long. LOL) We actually ended up waiting for my parents to get there because they went to see Grandma Dorothy. She was really excited to see some pictures from the pageant. Mary Jean Keller gave her one of my fans from the pageant when she was still at the Wilber Care Center and she said Grandma was really excited to get it. I know Grandpa would be really proud of me too. I miss him a lot and it's been hard doing all of this without him there but I know he's with me always. My prince and princess were running a bit late and we were afraid that they weren't gonna make it before the parade began but they showed up about 2 mins before we went. Their little brother Jake rode in the front seat with my dad and he was excited to be in the parade. After the parade dad dropped us off by the bar where Sue and band would be playing. The kids were only out on the parade route for about 10 mins and they walked out with a whole bag full of candy. They went crazy! (Plus they're super cute so I think they got a lot more thrown to them than anyone else. LOL) We walked down and said hi to Uncle Bob and Phyllis and then headed back to the bar for the band to start playing. I stayed in kroj as I knew they would make me play. They introduced me as the newly crowned Nebraska queen and then had me sing Blue Skirt and play then went through all of the songs I can play and had everyone play with me. After playing all of them that I knew...I was ready to change. I had been in kroj all day. I changed into some regular clothes and sat around and listened to the band play. All of the other royalty had left but Charlie Keller was still there in full force. He was SO FUNNY! :) Not that it's unusual for him to get the crowd going. About 30 mins after I got done playing Shandra showed up and played with the band for a while too. It was a great night but we were a bit nervous to drive home. The band quit playing around 12:40 and then had to pack up. We left around 1:30 and my dad had already hit a deer around 8pm when it was still light so it was scary. My parents said they saw 3 or 4 more deer on the way home but we didn't see any. Thank goodness! I was very tired when we got home and crashed. I had to get up before leaving for Dwight to finish a bit of homework.

I got up the next morning to finish homework and start the day in kroj again. We left for Dwight around noon so we would get there around the same time as Laura and family. We had free meal coupons so we went to eat first and found out that introductions would be in the same place as where we were eating. It was nice to not have to run across town several times. When we walked in the band who was playing (Studio Trio) asked which one of us was going to sing. :) We polka danced for a minute in front of the stage (I was the boy this time because I made Laura be the boy last time.) After we got our food sat down at the table they took us to the front and introduced us. Laura went first and introduced herself and invited everyone to come to Wilber in a few short weeks. I introduced myself in Czech and then in English. I told everyone that I had just won the Nebraska title in June and was excited for what the year would bring. They had asked us again who was going to sing before we started talking. I agreed this time and so after introductions I sang the Blue Skirt Waltz. It was a bit high but I survived. :) We got to go watch all of the kids dance after we ate lunch and they did a WONDERFUL job! I'm so proud to see so many kids involved and having fun dancing. It was really neat becuase after they danced their director told that she had been teaching the dancer for 20 years and before that she was a queen too! She performed her talent for the kids....twirling a flaming baton to a polka. It was so neat and it was amazing that she can still do it. (I would kill myself if I had to be that coordinated! HEHE!) Next we stopped by the Legion to hear Mark Vyhlidal play but they were on break by the time we got there and we had to head to the parade route before they started playing again. Brad was going to ride through the parade with me on the back of the car for the parade so we practiced accordion for a bit. Sheyenne and I both played Brad's accordion and then it was time to head on through the parade. Lane got sick right before the parade so his family headed out to get him feeling better. People loved hearing Brad play in the parade. They were clapping etc. it was great. After the parade we tried to walk back to where my supervisor from Time Warner was sitting with his son (who speaks a bit of Czech) but he had already left. We grabbed a snow cone and headed out of town. I was a bit grouchy because I was so tired so I was ready to head home and get to bed. It was a great weekend!


Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Savannah Pines, Diller, Wilber, and Blue River Lodge

I know you'll all be surprised to hear I did more than one Czech thing this weekend! ;)

My Czech events started with Friday evening at Savannah Pines. I got off work a bit early and changed quickly to go there. They had us there to talk about being Czech royalty in Nebraska and perform our talents. I was so sad to have to show up late because I didn't get to see Sheyenne, Lane, or Laura's talents. I got to hear Laura talking a bit as I walked in and she was doing a great job. It's hard to just come up with stuff when you're up there talking. She introduced me and I talked a bit about myself and how great it is to represent Nebraska. I told them about where I had been this year and where I planned to go in the future. I talked a bit about my kroj and then performed my talent. I didn't have all of my old kroje but I told them about how I had displayed all of them at the state pageant. We walked around a bit and talked to a few of the residents. We ran into one of my older brother's elementary teachers there too. Lane's talent is showing how to make kolaces so I got to try one on the way out. YUMMY! We also stopped and took some pictures in front of the fountain in their entryway. Very pretty! Momma Vocasek and Momma Shestak agreed to take us girls out to dinner for doing a good job so we went to Runza after we finished. We got a few funny looks (as usual when we go out in kroj and people don't know why we are dressed like this) but we had fun. It was funny because our moms ordered the same thing and so did we! :) We got told that we could be sisters when we were there and discovered we eat our kolaces the same way! LOL! We said our goodbyes for a whole day and I headed home. When I got home I changed and immediately started practicing my accordion. I don't remember if I wrote about this so I'm gonna write it again. Brad knows I like to make deals (I tried to make a deal with him several times about the dancing thing before I was forced to play hardball and just make him do it.) So last week at lessons he tells me that if I learn to play all of the songs on his current CD that he'll record a new one...with one catch that I'll sing. Well...now I'm on a mission to learn them all ASAP! I practiced with his CD and got part of the way through several that we have never practiced. :) After a bit of practice I headed to bed because I had to be up earlier than normal for work.

I had to go into work at 8am...YUCK! :) I normally don't work till 10am every day but had to work an earlier shift so I could make it to Diller in time for the parade. As soon as I got home from work I had to change quickly and get in the truck to head to Diller. The parade wasn't huge but it was fun anyways. My mom tried to take out the whole Wilber crew out with candy when they happened to walk next to our car. I swear she'll kill someone with that stuff one of these days! I gave Laura a hard time that nobody noticed me in the parade because they threw out kolaces...who cares about the girl with candy when they get kolaces?! :) We stopped downtown to grab a drink and I had a polish dog with EVERYTHING on it (AKA kroj suicide...) I didn't drip anything! We also went by to say hi to Pam, Amanda, and Liz Busboom on our way out. The first year I was the Lincoln Queen, Amanda was the Wilber queen so we had gone to Diller because her grandparents lived there (if I remember right) so I figured they would be there. It was good to see them as they sent me a good luck card and a congratulations card for the pageant. :)

I was looking forward to Sunday all week so I was excited when it finally came around! All of the wonderful Jr Beseda Dancers in Wilber were performing and I was so excited to surprise Blair, Blaze, and Shayla Miller when I got there. I made their mom keep the secret and they weren't shy to let her know she lied to them. I told them they had to blame me because she made a promise to me! They were excited to see me there and I was so excited to see them dance. They did a wonderful job (not that I expected anything less.) After they danced they introduced the Wilber Royalty and they each performed their talents (this time I actually got to watch.) Sheyenne is doing so great on the accordion(they tried to get me to play but I've never played a 2 row so I didn't do it.) She has only been playing for 2 weeks and she played 2 songs for everyone. I love seeing younger GIRLS playing! :) Lane did his demonstration on how to make kolaces. Charlie helped him out with the speaking as there wasn't a microphone or anything there. He did a great job and I got another kolace! 3 days in a row!!! Definitely can't beat that! I had pineapple on Friday, apple on Saturday, and cherry on Sunday! Laura danced beautifully (I am definitely impressed that she can be that graceful on concrete...I would have fallen and broken my teeth out or somethin!) Then Charlie introduced me and I spoke a little bit about being the state queen and how I would compete in Wilber next year at the national pageant. I introduced Shayla and had her tell a bit about herself and even got to introduce Blair! I sang the Blue Skirt Waltz in Czech then in English and then we wrapped things up. We took a few pictures as requested and headed on to the next stop. Blair asked if she could ride with me so she got to come with me and Laura's family to Blue River Lodge to hear Brad play. I was so excite to see how many people showed up. The whole Miller crew, Shandra Korbelik, Erin Spicka, Shestaks, Sue Underwood, Charlie and MaryJean Keller, Gaylen Beck, and even Uncle Bob and Phyllis were there! I had some good food and sang/played the Blue Skirt Waltz again. I was excited for several people to hear that hadn't heard previously. After I sang I changed into jeans and Brad made me come up and play again....surprise surprise! :) I told him that if I had to play again he had to get Shandra up there so we played 2 songs together with Dottie. He was to introduce the all female front row! She played a few more with him after I snuck off stage and before we knew it the night was over. It was so much fun...I definitely didn't want to go! I helped Brad pack up and sat and chatted with Sue for a little while before we left. A wonderful night as I expected!

I'm planning to practice with Brad 2 times this week as I'm going to sit in on John's lesson on Tuesday and practice as usual on Wednesday. (John is the band leader of Less Talk More Polka.) I figure the more practice to learn all of those songs the better! ;) Hope everyone has a good week and I'll write again after another fun filled weekend next week!!!


Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

4th of July Weekend

I know you'll all be surprised...but I planned a busy weekend again. :-D I have been telling Brad Husak (my wonderful accordion teacher) that we want to know whenever he plays so I can try to bring a group out to hear him play and try to get a younger group out and about to the different polka dances etc around. We went to Abie's Place in Abie, NE to hear him play on the 3rd. It was the 1 year anniversary of Abie's place so they had him come play. I ended up getting my parents, my aunt and her fiancee, and Laura to join me. We had some good food then I found an awesome little dance partner (after getting denied twice first) and then another soon after. A request for the Blue Skirt Waltz was brought up for a 90th Birthday and of course mom convinced Brad to have me come up and sing. Well since we didn't plan for it he was playing it way higher than I normally sing it and with my allergies...it was definitely a strain. I sang it in Czech and English. Then we really started plotting...dun dun dunnnnnnnnnn. I can't remember if I wrote this in here before so I'm gonna explain it again. A few months back I asked Brad if he knew how to polka and he doesn't. Needless to say....I've been on a mission ever since then. :) I tried quitting the accordion, refusing to play the left hand till he learns, etc. etc. etc. Yes...I tried it all. Mom had an idea that if we got his accordion off of him I had a better chance. Well we did (but I had to play one song in return) and he finally agreed. Everyone who knows him couldn't believe he did it. It pretty much made my night. :) He did say that he's never going to dance again but I don't buy it. You have to start somewhere! (Now I have to start working on that left hand dang it! HEHE!) We handed out some info about the Wilber festival and met the lady they requested the Blue Skirt Waltz for (it was her 90th Birthday.) One of the guys had even bought me a beer and sent it to my table after I sang and didn't tell me it was him till they left. I told them all if they saw me anywhere to remind me that they met me in Abie. I chatted a bit with Brad's parents and had an awesome meal. We hung around and helped Brad get everything loaded so he wouldn't be there too late and headed home. It was an awesome night but I needed some rest so I could make it through the next day.

Saturday morning I woke up at 8am (again...I HATE mornings...) to get ready for the first parade in Friend so I could go see the wonderful Miller family. Shayla sent me a text to be sure I would be out there for the parade and I thought it was at 10:30 so I planned on getting there at 10am. GOOD THING SHE SENT A TEXT! The parade started at 10am so I would have been really late. Blair was looking forward to riding through with me so they played a few pranks on her telling her that she couldn't ride with me etc. She saw me pull up and started running towards me. :) We got loaded into the car and took a few pictures. I even made her a sign that says "Substitute Princess Blair Miller" for whenever she rides with me. She was super excited (plus I think she was excited be in the car with me in front of all of her friends and family.) She got the Little Sister for the Wisconsin queen in the national pageant and I'm a bit disappointed because that means she probably won't get to be little sister for me next year but we both agreed that we'll be special to each other no matter what. We didn't do very well handing out fliers in the parade so after we were done and stopped at the Miller's house we went walking back from the end to hand them out. We only made it about 5 blocks and we ran out. We went back and played with the lambs and I even got to feed them. We were crackin up because there I was...in full kroj...feeding lambs...with beer bottles! :) They showed us the rest of the animals and then we had to head to Seward.

Seward's 4th of July parade is awesome because it is HUGE! One of my favorite things that they do is find a random family who is traveling through the state on vacation and happens to stop in Seward. They ask them to be the tourist family and they become the guests of honor. They get to ride through the parade etc...just for being in the right place at the right time. There are always lots of people and lots of queens of all sorts there. We walked around downtown a bit and then headed back to meet with all of the other royalty that was there. They had several speakers and then we took group photos. Off to the parade we went! I saw several people there and as usual missed even more as I found out afterward. I saw Chris, Harley, one of the guys from Abie, John, Stephanie, Grandma/pa, Lavern, and the list goes on. We grabbed our free meals on the way out of town and had to rush back to Milford to drop off the car and back home as quickly as possible. We were going to see Larry the Cable Guy that night.

It was a great day and I had an awesome time at Larry the Cable Guy and saw the Oak Lake Fireworks last nigh. Fortunately Brad doesn't hate me too much for making him dance because he hung out with me on Saturday and Sunday (his Birthday) after that. :) Phew...I was a bit nervous!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen