By Suzi Nelson Wahoo Newspaper
PRAGUE – A three-day celebration highlighting Czech heritage and good times in Prague will begin this weekend.
Beer keg days and the celebration of Czech heritage will take place from Friday, August 12 to Sunday, August 14 at various locations in the Prague area.
The festival combines several community events, including an alumni reunion, fishing tournament, parades, Czech dancers, beer mug throwing contest, kolache contest, polka music and a car show.
The center of the action is Prague Village Park, where there are many activities throughout the weekend, including Beer Barrel Days, lots of polka music, bounce houses for the kids and the street dance on Saturdays at night
But the fun also extends to other parts of the community. The celebration of Czech heritage will be held on Saturday in the parish hall in Prague. There, you can dine on pork, dumplings and kraut cooked by Marc Nemec, owner of Kolache Korner in Prague, and pair it with a Czech beer. Finish the meal with a sweet kolache made by local bakers.
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Czech dancers entertain with the routines of two groups of dancers. The younger group will perform traditional Czech dances, while the older (teen) dancers will perform the Maypole dance, according to Nemec.
The public will be able to watch the newly minted Czech-Slovak Queen of Nebraska, Greta Rosno, crown the new Queen of the Nebraska Czechs Prague Chapter, along with other new royalty to be named. Former chapter and state queen Cecelia Minchow will also be in attendance. She competed last weekend for the national title of Miss Czech-Slovak USA.
The celebration of Czech heritage was originally held as a separate event in September, but in 2017 Nemec and his father, Adolph, who helped found the event in the mid-1990s, moved it to August to coincide with with the beer keg days.
Another Czech-themed event is the Grand Kolache Championship. Last year was the first time this event was held at the A-Mazing gift and flower shop in Prague. It was Sunday in 2021, but organizer Jeff Lewis has moved it to Saturday to lead up to the Czech Heritage Celebration.
This year, JoAnn Johnson of Prague will once again defend her title. Connie Thulin of Wahoo, runner-up in 2021, will also be there, along with 12 other bakers. One hundred and twenty people have bought tickets to be judges for the event. They will go through the flour maze while tasting the sweets and casting their votes.
Also on Saturday, three-time champion Edward Ourada Jr. will defend his title in the Bohemian Water Fights competition. This contest is a unique event not to be missed.
The main parade was not at Beer Barrel Polka Days for the past few years, but it’s back this year. The parade will line up at Frontier Co-op and roll through the streets of Prague at 4:00 p.m
Sunday begins with breakfast cooked by firefighters at the Prague Fire Hall, but the highlight of the day will be the 11th annual Mitchell Ostry Memorial Hall in downtown Prague. Proceeds from the show help fund a scholarship.
For a more detailed schedule, go to this week’s Market Weekly section of the Wahoo Newspaper.
Suzi Nelson is the editor-in-chief of the Wahoo Newspaper. Contact her by email at suzi.nelson@wahoonewspaper.com.
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