Cedar Polka Fest gets ready for season number 24

By Pat Stinson
Sun contributor
The community of Cedar is abuzz this week preparing for its biggest annual event: the renowned Cedar Polka Fest which begins this year with a flag-raising ceremony on Thursday, June 30, followed by music, dancing and special events until 9 p.m., Sunday, July 3.
Merchants are busy stocking their shelves and volunteers are readying the village for anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 festival goers who raise the usual pitch of polka fever in this peaceful Polish hamlet to fun and frenzied levels.

Sponsored by the Cedar Chamber of Commerce, the 24th annual festival promises the best in energetic polka music provided by talented Midwestern bands, dancing on one of the county’s biggest and arguably best dance floors, delicious Polish bratwursts, soft pretzels and beer, children’s games and activities, a parade, a softball tournament, and Sunday’s special Polka Folk Music Mass with Catholic Bishop Cooney and a polka band.
“We just work together to get it done,” says Polka Fest committee member Larry Bruckner, referring to a six-person committee assisted by interested Chamber members and a number of community-wide volunteers.
Using a Chamber-owned forklift to carry sections of dance floor from a storage area behind the chamber office to a designated spot under an enormous tent, Bruckner pauses long enough to point to an enormous bulletin board covered with pictures of past festivals and to share a few story nuggets. He says that today, one week before festival opening, is a more leisurely day for set up. Tomorrow, the real work begins. The dance floor still needs assembling, vendors will begin arriving, and all manner of details have yet to be finalized. Polka Fest Committee Chairman Frank Novak, whose duties are described as “everything under the tent,” coordinates with fellow committee members Ed Novak, Bob Dezelski, Judy Bugai, Larry Bruckner and Fred and Dan Peplinski, all of whom have been meeting once a month and contacting each other by phone for several months.
Bruckner, whose main duty is hiring the bands, also handles the festival parade. “A lot of people wait until the day of the parade to enter,” he says. “We don’t get excited. We just fit them in. We have a lot of old cars and jalopies, a polka band and lots of kids. Last year was our biggest; we had 30-something entries.”
When asked what his favorite festival event might be, Bruckner answers, “Once we raise the flag, and you hear the first drum beat, the music just makes it go.”
“I’m a polka (music) nut and that’s it,” he adds.
Though many young people attend the event and dance to polka music for a day or two, Bruckner says it’s debatable whether they will take the time to really learn how to polka. “Young kids are just happy to be out there jumping around, but to make them slow down, learn the beat…” his voice trails off.
The “old-style” beat is what drives polka music, with its accordion and concertina and now, the addition of brass. His concern is that the love of polka music and dancing could fade. While polka lessons are not offered during the festival, lessons are being given at the town hall in Cedar on June 24.
“Next year is our 25th,” he says. “We’ll have an extra special show band.”
Mark your 2006 calendar for Cedar’s Polka Fest, July 6-9.
For more information about this weekend’s Polka Fest, call 228-3378 or 228-5562. For information about the parade, call Greg at 922-1899.
POLKA FEST SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: JUNE 30 – JULY 3
Thursday, June 30
5 p.m. Flag-raising ceremony
5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Dancing with music by The Casuals of Eastlake,
Ohio, and Virgil Baker of Rockford, Michigan
Friday, July 1
10 a.m. Sidewalk Chalk Art – Meet at the Town Hall
2 – 5:30 p.m. Dancing with music by The Casuals of Eastlake,
Ohio
5:30 p.m. – 1 a.m. Dancing and music by Alvin Styczynski of Pulaski,
Wisconsin and Honkey Hoppers of Tonawanda,
New York.
Saturday, July 2
10 a.m. Face Painting – Meet at the Town Hall
Noon Parade – Downtown Cedar
2 – 5:30 p.m. Dancing with music by Alvin Styczynski of Pulaski,
Wisconsin
5:30 p.m. – 1 a.m. Dancing with music by Honkey Hoppers of Tonawanda, New York, and Cady Homel of Chicago, Illinois
Sunday, July 3
11 a.m. Mass with Polka Music – Celebrated by Bishop Cooney with music by Pan Franek & Zosia Polka Towners of Muskegon, Michigan
1 – 9 p.m. Dancing with Music by Pan Franek & Zosia Polka Towners of Muskegon, Michigan