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