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