Larry Bruckner: Cedar’s volunteer behind Polka Fest

By Linda Hepler Beaty
Sun contributor

If you’ve ever wondered how the Cedar Polka Fest, a Cedar Chamber of Commerce event that attracts as many as 8,000 people over four days, is organized, look no further than the community — and to volunteers such as 82-year-old Larry Bruckner. “Mr. B,” as he is often called, a Cedar Chamber of Commerce member, has been volunteering with the Polka Fest for at least 15 years, by his estimate. “I haven’t worked since the beginning of the festival,” he said. “That was in 1975. The first few festivals were for the community to get together and raise a little hell,” he added. “But then we were getting so many people that it had to be more organized.”

After a five-year hiatus, the festival was reorganized into a multi-day event, with a large tent, vendors, games, and of course, an exciting line-up of polka bands for dancing. Arranging the band line-up was Bruckner’s first job with the festival, and he was ideally suited for this. Having grown up on his grandparent Brzezinski’s farm in Cedar, Bruckner was exposed early to polka music, and loved it so much, that he sought out every opportunity to hear it. “I’ve listened to polka music since I was a boy,” he said. “At lunchtime when the adults were listening to the news, I’d run down to the radio in the barn. There was a program out of Escanaba from 12-12:15, where I could listen to polka music.”

As an adult, Bruckner and his wife Dorothy traveled all over the country, seeking out polka events in almost every state through a polka news publication. “We’ve danced in many states, Wisconsin, Illinois — even Alaska,” said Bruckner. “But we didn’t polka in Hawaii,” he chuckled.

Having attended so many polka events through the years, Bruckner became familiar with many of the bands, accruing a vast collection of polka music along the way. Eventually, he and his wife, along with a small group of others, began to organize “polka weekends,” where they rented rooms in venues including Shanty Creek Resort in Bellaire, hosting large groups of polka aficionados for an entire three days of music, dancing and cards. By the time he was enlisted to help with the bands for the Cedar Polka Fest, Bruckner was an old pro at this. “He never hired a band if he hadn’t heard it,” said Dorothy.

Over the years, Bruckner’s role in festival preparation has evolved, from hiring bands to developing the official festival brochure — and now set-up for the event, including tent, tables and chairs, bandstand, dance floor and vending machines. “I get the chamber’s forklift and drive it, hauling about 50 loads in and then helping to set it up. Then we put it all away after,” he explained.

If you think it’s easy for someone like Bruckner to volunteer his time since he’s retired, think again. Mr. B., who had a career as a forklift driver for Cone Drive in Traverse City, still works a paid job. “I do maintenance work for Solon Township and take care of the properties,” he said.

Work — whether volunteer or paid — is in Bruckner’s blood, like polka music and dancing. According to Dorothy, he gets tired at times, but when he’s not working, he becomes restless. “After a day or two he says ‘I gotta get back to work’,” she laughed.

And, when it comes to community events like the Cedar Polka Festival, it’s a good thing there are people like Mr. B. “We can’t do it without having volunteers,” he claimed.