Prague Heritage Day

I was excited to get to participate in Prague's Heritage day this year! I wasn't sure who would be there but I reminded all of the queens on Facebook because I miss all of them!

I actually had gone back to Columbus with Brad to meet some of his friends back home so we headed to Prague from Columbus on Sunday morning. I finally got to listen to Mark V on his Polka show and even called in to say hello and thanks to everyone for supporting me so far this year! We got to Prague around 11:15 and ate a WONDERFUL duck dinner (with dumplings, kraut, stuffing, and rye bread....YUMMY!!) at Kolace Corner. I headed over to the National Hall to see if anyone needed any help and ended up finding a garnet ring that I liked at the Czech Cottage booth...surprise surprise....once again Heidi had something I wanted! :-D I didn't buy it though...WILLPOWER! I went back to Kolace Corner and ran into Rabecca (the Prague Czech Queen) and her family. Everything started to come together by the time I made it back over to the National Hall! The program started a bit late but I was able to talk about myself and what I've done so far as queen and perform my talent (minus all of my props.) After I performed with Brad playing I invited Shandra up to the stage and had her play a few songs with us also. It was great to get to play with her again! They had Shandra and Rabecca speak a little bit about themselves and even had Sandy S come up and talk about the state pageant. Next was Sue Underwood and Carrie Brown (Miss Czech-Slovak US 2nd Runner Up and past Nebraska Queen) to do their demonstration and performance on the Dudy (Czech Bagpipes.) It was great to hear them play together and they did an awesome job especially since they had to throw it all together a few minutes before the performance!! I got to draw a few raffle tickets (hope nobody is mad if I didn't pick them!) Brad and I stuck around until it was all over and they were cleaning up. I ran into Annette's sister again and told her that I had actually met her sister only a few days before. There was also members of Studio Trio (who I sang with in Dwight) and a few from the night we went to Abie's Place. It was a great day and I can't wait to attend more events with the Prague Czech Chapter! Oh and I forgot to telly you...I gave in and bought the ring...yupp...another SILVER Garnet ring (so i can wear it everyday...and I do!) My every day jewelry now consists of 2 garnet rings, a garnet necklace, and sometimes a garnet bracelet if I feel like wearing one. ;)

I have a TON of stuff to get done this week before Oklahoma and the York Festival! WISH ME LUCK ON KNOCKING A HUGE TO DO LIST OUTTA THE WAY!

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Nebraska Czech Brass Band at Bohemian Cafe

I was excited to have another chance to go to the Bohemian Cafe! :) I had also never heard the Nebraska Czech Brass Band play so this was even more exciting. Brad and I decided to head up there and mom asked if she could come along at the last minute. We got there late as I wasn't feeling too well but at least made it in time to have some wonderful food and hear some great music. When we got there I realized one of the judges from the state pageant was in the band. I remembered him talking about a band and traveling to the Czech Republic with them etc but didn't realize it was THIS BAND! I also had the honor of meeting Annette Vanek, the first ever Miss Czech-Slovak US. We had been Facebook friends for a while but it was great to actually meet her. :) Oh and I had actually met her older sister in Abie a few months back if you remember so it was fun to tell her about that also. After they finished playing we talked a few people and everyone kept asking when Brad and I would be back...HOPEFULLY SOON! (Kinda made me feel good that they asked about me too! HEHE!) We also got to meet Barry Boyce in the back of the restaurant. Glad we didn't miss it!

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

Just Go to the Hot Air Bloon on the Interstate...Yorkfest!

Well I felt like a bad queen last weekend! I didn't do anything in kroj at all or at least get introduced and sing...hmmmm gonna have to work on that so it doesn't happen again! ;)

I remembered going to a Yorkfest parade several years ago before York had it's own Czech Festival so I started looking into it. I haven't had a chance to work with the York Czechs much yet. My mom gave me the email address of one of the York Czechs so I emailed here and asked if I could attend. I started making plans and also told her that I would be at the dumpling cook-off and if they needed a server or judge or anything let me know. (I'm sneakier than you though huh? FREE DUMPLINGS...I'M THERE!) She asked if I would be a judge and of course I said YES! LOL! I was definitely excited for this event.

I arrived with my dad Saturday morning and after getting the cars unloaded went and lined up with the rest of the York Czechs for the parade. It was great to see such a wide variety of people supporting the York Czechs. I asked if everyone would take a picture together before we had to start on our way through the parade to show that there were people young and old to support this chapter. After the parade Pam agreed to take me around town so I wouldn't be left on my own. :) We stopped by the kolace booth for a bit to see everyone and then headed back to her house for a bit before we had to run a few errands. We first grabbed some lunch then headed to the local Chinese food restaurant to pick up some Chinese Dumplings that they had entered in the dumpling cook-off. They also had asked me to call Brad and have him come early to play with a few other people before/during the cook-off. We headed to the college to start setting up and I helped her carry in all of the things she needed. After setting up I got to be a judge and eat some of each of the 8 different entries....YUMM! :) There were fruit dumplings, potato dumplings, and Chinese dumplings...how on earth do you decide!?!?! Each of the 3 judges got to pick our 1st - 3rd choices and we tallied the results. Then all of the other guests got to try them all and vote too. They picked both a Judges Choice and a Peoples Choice winner and they got a bowl, wooden spoon, dumpling mix, and dumpling potholder. They actually had dumpling mix for sale...what a great idea if you don't have time to throw it all together yourself it's only about a 2 min job this way just to mix in the wet ingredients. Keep an eye out for that at the York festival this year...I bet they'll have it there. After stuffing myself full of dumplings I played a few songs with the group of accordion players and then spoke a little bit about what I've been doing so far this year and thanked everyone. I am definitely excited for the York Czech festival in a few weeks! :)

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Come on Down and Join in the Fun

....Nebraska State Fair

I know you know the jingle! Don't try to pretend you didn't hear it 1,000 on the TV and radio this year. :) I actually hadn't made it to the state fair at all this year with my busy schedule. (Surprise, surprise. LOL) It was a late night as I said before but luckily I slept quite a bit in the car on the way home so I wasn't too incredibly tired when we got up to get ready for the fair. My parents just dropped Brad off at home and then dropped Laura and Me off at my house to sleep but we left everything in the car. Luckily....my dad doesn't like to sleep in so he had everything unloaded when we got up and got to their house to get ready. :P Oh and BONUS...mom warmed up everything they got from the bakery in West for breakfast! We got ready and headed down to the fairgrounds and met Laura's parents to get all of her stuff back with them. We headed in and found our float. They had several queens participating from rodeo queens to beauty pageant queens to Czech queens so they just had a float for all of us to ride on. Lane (the Wilber Czech Prince) was also riding with us so the sign they had said "Nebraska Queens (and One Prince Too!)" We thought that was just too cute! After the parade we went to the family activity tent and had an autograph signing/meet and greet. Unfortunately I didn't know what exactly we would be doing so I didn't bring autograph sheets. I made a sign up sheet for people to give me their email address or physical address for a photograph. I emailed a photograph of me to each kid with their name and mine along with a special message. I definitely need to get my autograph sheets and business cards ready for the next event. EEK! It was a lot of fun and after the signing we went out and changed so we could walk around a bit. Laura decided to head back home with her parents right after that because she had to get back to class but Sheyenne, Brad, and I walked around for a while together and Sheyenne and I got to wear our shirts we got made in TX. We even stopped by the Franks booth from Wilber and took a picture with them. :) After Kiesels left Brad and I walked around till the booths started shutting down. A fun day at the fair and most likely the last time I'll be going for the next few years.

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

WESTFEST! (The Furthest Journey Yet!)

Well everyone I just got back from Westfest and had a blast! I definitely recommend heading down to West, TX over Labor Day Weekend if you have a chance. It wasn't Wilber but I figure I have a biased opinion. :-D I had been in contact with Sharon Middlebrook (the mother of Sarah Middlebrook, Miss Czech-Slovak US 2006) on Facebook for a few months and she was so helpful and welcoming when we began talking about traveling to West for the festival. If you haven't already you should definitely check out her blog. She has made several replica kroj for Sarah...COMPLETELY by hand and she has been kind enough to share her secrets in case you are looking to make one or something similar. Click Here to Visit Sharon's Czech Costumes Blog I can't thank her and her family for their hospitality over the weekend enough. You truly made myself and my WHOLE family feel like royalty and you are the type of people who keep people coming back to events like this again and again!

We left around 6am on Friday morning (as usual we were a bit late.) HAHA! I didn't get to sleep until around 4am and had to pack up the van at 5am. Nothing like waiting till the last minute to pack and get ready for a trip. :) I swear traveling with 5 was a lot easier when we were all little kids! HEHE! Both of my parents went along with myself, Laura, and Brad. We drove and drove and drove then stopped in Oklahoma City to visit some relatives. They were cousins of my Grandmother's on the Rezabek side of the family which made it even more fun because they were my relatives AND Laura's. We thought while we were driving through we would stop by and since Brad and I had brought our accordions...we had a small concert in their commons area of their apartment. Their names are Mary Ann and Erma Rezabek. They have been sending me Birthday...Christmas...Easter...Valentines Day...St Patricks Day...etc cards since I was little. :) They never had grand kids of their own so I guess they just adopted us and we think they are the sweetest ever so it was well appreciated! A few months back I received a package from Mary Anne after my parents and brother had stopped by on their last trip to TX and showed them all of the pictures and videos from the state pageant. She had sent me several books about Czech heritage, 2 records one of which was from the Czech Choraliers that I now sing with, a piece of Czech trim, and the last was a complete shock. She had sent me a beautiful garnet necklace. With the necklace she had handwritten it's story. It was several pages long so I'll summarize. Basically she used to be a teacher on military bases for children of US soldiers. She was getting sent to Germany when a soldier asked her to do him a favor and if she ever went to Prague to find his elementary school pen pal. She did find him on her first trip to Prague and continued to visit him and his wife each time that she visited the country. Before she came back to the US she visited one last time and they gave her this garnet necklace. The man has since passes away but she told me that whenever I wear it that she would be proud along with him, his wife, and a now free Czech Republic. Mom and I cried when we read this. They loved having all of us stop by and hearing a bit of our music and in the last card I received from them they said that they still get questions about who we were and why we stopped and why we were playing. :) After leaving their apartment we stopped at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. I still wish I could go into the museum but it is like 4 stories tall and I'm sure I could spend a whole day just looking through it. I recommend stopping at least to see the outdoor memorial if you are ever in the area. I had been there before but now being older and really knowing what happened that day it literally took my breath away to walk in there. I held back the tears more than once. After those 2 stops we were set to drive the rest of the way with no other major stops....wrong....apparently traffic decided to make us stop ON THE INTERSTATE...MULTIPLE TIMES! We even took a 50 mile detour once to try to get around an accident that happened in a construction zone and were still at a stop when we got back on the interstate. Next we hit rush hour traffic in Dallas....LOVELY! By the time we checked into our hotel...our 11 hour drive had turned into a 14.5 hour drive. We were definitely ready to get out of the car when we got there. We hopped into the pool for a bit to relax when we got there which was fun. Mom and I tried doing flips together in the pool and almost drown each other then Brad and I tried our shot at a lyrical synchronized swimming duet. HAHA! Poor Laura had to get some homework done so she decided not to swim the first night. After winding down we tried to get some rest for a busy day on Saturday.

Saturday started early as we were trying to be to West by 7am and we were 20 mins away. Plus we had to be in kroj and ready for the day. We got up and started getting ready. Laura and I were runnin around with our tights already on and shorts and puttin on makeup and doing our hair. It was kinda like having a sister! Then while I was pulling my curlers out of my hair...I dropped one in the toilet! I told my mom I wasn't grabbing it and it was either staying there or she had to pull it out. :) Don't worry...I got pictures. HAHA! When we got to the Middlebrook's house we met up with the wonderful Kiesel family also. We didn't have a lot of time before we had to head to the parade but got to meet everyone and say hello at least. The Middlebrook's had a float made for us "Nebraska Czech Royalty" so Myself, Laura, Sheyenne, Carrie, and Konner got to ride through in the parade. I couldn't believe how fast they drove through the parade! We originally wanted to dance on the float but we stood up a few times and almost fell...not good. :) On the parade route I found out that my Texas family had met up with my parents. It was wonderful to see them and have them support me! My uncle Russ, aunt Linda, her parents Ann and Earl, my cousin Angie and her husband Dan and their 2 kids Nathan and Brayden ALL came down to West to see me. After the parade we got to watch some of the entertainment before the parade of kroj. I LOVED seeing all of the different and unique kroj and what better way than to have each person parade through and describe their kroj a little bit. LOVED IT!!! Once we were done walking through the open air auditorium they had us parade through the whole festival then take a picture under the Vitame Vas na Westfest (Welcome to Westfest) sign. They wanted some pictures with all of the queens so we had to wait to get all of us together too. After all of that I was pretty worn out and ready to go back to the hotel and swim/relax. It was hot which I had been hoping for but I definitely didn't ask for all of that humidity. We didn't have much time to walk around but Laura and I had a shirt made by the airbrush people with our titles but had to wait until the following day to pick them up. We left early to go cool off and my parents didn't want to come back the next day because they had see everything but Laura,Brad, and I decided we were coming back to see everything the next day. We had fun visiting my aunt and uncles campsite and swimming but we were definitely ready to crash when we went to to bed...AFTER waiting forever for the showers. LOL...5 of us and 1 shower = lots of time waiting if you're the last one to shower (ME AND I WAS THE FASTEST ONE OF ALL!)

Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast. We ran into the Kiesels at breakfast and had a few issues with the waffle making! LOL! We went back to Westfest and walked around for a few hours. We bought some of the stuff from the craft section and I had to make another stop by the outdoor air conditioning because I thought it was just too funny. I even walked through several purse booths...AND DIDN'T EVEN BUY ONE!!! Mom and Dad made it to the bakery in West to grab some goodies and called when they ran out of things to do. We grabbed some food (WE FINALLY FOUND THE CZECH FOOD) and headed back to the gates to meet them. Oh I didn't mention this was a lot like a fair...craft booths....fair style food....and entertainment only with a Czech twist. We stopped by my aunt and uncles campsite on our way out of town to say goodbye to everyone before we headed for our HOPEFULLY NOT SO LONG trip home! I had such a good time and wish I could have stayed longer but had to be back in Lincoln for a parade at the Nebraska State Fair. On our way home we decided NOT to go through Dallas this time and stopped to show Brad and Laura my aunt and uncles outdoor living area that I am IN LOVE WITH! The basically have a living room, dining room, and bar under a shelter with fans etc so most of the year you can sit out there instead of being stuck in the house all of the time. They also put in a wood burning stove and heaters plus screens you can drop down so you can spend some of the "cold Texas months" out there too. Someday.... :) We had a less crazy drive home but it was 2:30am when we finally got home and headed to bed!! I was definitely happy to be home and see my puppies! (I'm pathetic...I know.)

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen