This 4th of July... polka on!

 

http://stjohnpicnic.com/ 

by Cristina Balli

Are you looking for something fun, different, unique, historical, and truly Texas to do this 4th of July?  Forget the beaches and lakes; head on over to central Texas and witness a perhaps little-known tradition of the Lone Star State - church polka picnics.

Some of them have been going on for over 150 years - an annual homecoming tradition for many folks with Czech, German and Polish roots and the biggest fundraiser of the year for each of these historic churches, these picnics are steeped in tradition and meaning for central Texas communities.  

St. John the Baptist Church

This year I've been driving around checking out some of these picnics and I'm only upset that I hadn't attended them before.  Some of them are a throw-back in time, like St. John the Baptist's picnic in Ammannsville that I attended earlier this June.  All these picnics have the same format - they start with a polka mass, followed by some type of fried chicken dinner (golden, kettle), live auctions (yet a whole other subject of discussion on the live auctioneers), games for the kids, drinks, snacks, and of course, live polka music.  This is where Texas polka music lives on - Mark Halata & Texavia, Czechaholics, Red Ravens, Ennis Czech Boys, Dujka Brothers, Chris Rybak, Shiner Hobo Band, Texas Sound Czech, and many more.  (I know I'm leaving out many other great bands; this is just meant to be a quick blog post.  Please bear with me...)

Ennis Czech Boys in Ammannsville

One thing I discovered about these polka church picnics is how difficult it is to find out about them if you're not plugged in to the community or know where to look.  I've found this true for most folk traditions; that's how you know it's real - you can't find it online!  I finally uncovered a series of flyers by attending St. Rose of Lima's picnic in Schulenburg, and later was told by Andy Behlen of the Schulenburg Sticker that most of the church flyers get printed at their newspaper.  I love their vintage design; I can already see an exhibit... Mark Halata told me he has an entire wall covered in them.  Maybe we'll convince him to lend us his wall to display somewhere... that would be fun.

There are some websites, however, that post notices of some of these picnics on a weekly

St. Rose of Lima, Schulenburg

basis, like PolkaBeat.com, Texas Polka News, TexasCzechs.com and Texas Heritage Music & Dance Club.  You can check out these sights for lots of Texas polka news in general.   

Unfortunately I won't be around for St. John's picnic on the 4th (I'll actually be at South Padre Island!  But that's close to home for me, so I have a good excuse) but I do plan on being at the following church picnics.  If anyone wants to join me and carpool from Austin let me know!

Happy 4th of July!

P.S.  some of these picnics are held entirely outside, so just be ready for the Texas heat... they do have plenty of cold drinks (beer) for sale so you won't dehydrate.

Interning at Texas Folklife

A Venture in Geography, Place & Culture

By: Eliana Ramirez

I have always been addicted to culture.  As a child, this obsession started with acknowledging and embracing my own unique culture as a Latina growing up in the Rio Grande Valley.  As a college student, it has manifested itself in the form of Anthropology and Mexican-American Studies classes I have taken as part of my Cultural Studies strand in the Bridging Disciplines Program at UT.  Most recently, I have satiated this cultural longing through my internship at Texas Folklife this past semester.

           

I first volunteered with Texas Folklife when I was a freshman in college.  During this time, I mainly took pictures and wrote small blog pieces.  Now a senior at UT, I thought Texas Folklife would be the perfect fit for my concentration in Geography, Place & Culture.  Geography?  Check.  Place?  Check.  Culture?  Double check.  The name says it all.

            

Flaco Jimenez at Accordion Kings & Queens 2012
Photo by Eliana Ramirez

My primary job at Texas Folklife has been helping plan their accordion programs:  The Big Squeeze accordion competition in the spring, and the Accordion Kings & Queens festival and finals competition in the summer.  My involvement with this program has allowed me to dip my feet in many parts of the media pool, including:  conducting online research on the history of the accordion in Texas, watching and totaling videos of past Big Squeeze and Accordion Kings & Queens competitions on YouTube, creating an interactive Google Map of past finalist's and semifinalist's hometowns, and utilizing spreadsheets to calculate Big Squeeze statistics on the age, gender, location, and song genres of former contestants.

            

The best part about interning at Texas Folklife this semester has been concurrently learning to play the accordion and participating in UT's Conjunto Ensemble.   As I watched videos of past contestants and read through their musical selections for the Big Squeeze tryouts, I would catch myself thinking, "Hey! I remember that song!" or "Wow, I remember learning to play this!"  While I am years behind Texas Folklife's talented accordion players, I can now say that I fully admire and appreciate their awesome technical and performance skills.

            

Of the many things I learned at Texas Folklife, I think the most important has been realizing how the organization highlights the relationship between geography, place, and culture.  This folklife agency centers its agenda on the idea that geographic and physical space creates a long lasting and intangible cultural space.  I have spent the whole semester grasping at this idea with my accordion research, and now that it’s within the palm of my hand and my time at Texas Folklife finally comes to a close, I know that I’ll be able to hold onto this discovery as I embark on my future cultural experiences.

The Texas Folklife staff wishes Eliana lots of luck in her future endeavors. It was great having you as part of our team last semester, Ellie!