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