Late last month, Ennis, Texas was alive with the sounds of polka music and awash in visitors from across the country sporting traditional Czech costumes. But if you're new to North Texas, understand that the previous sentence I just wrote could have been written in any of the last 150 years.
That's how long the sounds of accordions and trumpets and shuffling dancing shoes have echoed through Ennis and Hillsboro and West and dozens of other Texas towns founded and settled by immigrants with Czech heritage. And on a Friday night late last month during the 52nd Annual National Polka Festival, hundreds gathered at Sokol Hall to crown their 32nd King and Queen.
"It's part of Ennis. It's part of who we are," said Ennis mayor Angeline Juenemann, a 3rd generation Czech attending the King and Queen Dance Contest in her own traditional Czech kroj dress.
"It makes me smile. It makes me happy," she said of the Friday night gathering.
But as fun as this is, we did not attend the dance contest to waltz down memory lane. As life-long Ennis resident Steavy Jakabik reminded us, this is a competition.
"If they're not light on their feet, they can't do it," Jakabik said. "And you're gonna see a lot of them that just hop around and have a heck of a good time," she laughed.
Rita Holland's mom and dad started the Sokol Hall dance competition 31 years ago. Her father recently passed away, and she and her family are dedicated to carrying on the family and Ennis tradition.
"Daddy always said it doesn't have to be fancy dancing. It just needs to be lively and fun," Holland said.
Fun that meant 11 contestants, each given an official number, and three rounds of polka music under the watchful eyes of discerning judges.
But as they danced, past kings and queen have to sit. You only get to win once, like Jake and Jessica Holland.
"Trying to explain how you get into polka dancing to someone who is unfamiliar, it's hard," Jake Holland said.
But that's OK with past King and Queen Pat and Doris Mollenhauer.
"It's fun. We love to dance," Doris said. Her husband, the dance contest king of 20 years ago, was nursing an 80-year-old sore knee. "Oh, I took some Advil, so I think I'll be alright later on," he said. "Or he might need a beer or two," his wife laughed.
And as the finalists spun through one final polka, it was worth noting that Czech history and Czech shoes scoot just fine, thank you right next to Cowboy boots here in Texas. The runners-up would be a brother and sister whose last name is Cabrerra. And the winners were a Dallas nurse with Czech family heritage and her Waxahachie firefighter husband who first met each other at a quinceanera.
Jodi and Julio Hernandez from Ennis were crowned the 32nd King and Queen. "She actually taught me how to dance, so I can't say anything else," Julio Hernandez said. "I have a tiara because of this man," Jodi Hernandez said. "Because he took his time to dance with me. And that's all I can ask for."
And as the newest king and queen took their final spin, they proved Czech traditions are still alive and well, blended with a Texas two-step or two, 150 years and counting.