Czech It Out

Last weekend, in the cute little town of Tabor, SD, they celebrated Czech Days. Friday was the big parade - well over an hour long.


Not only were there plenty of colorfully-dressed Czech descendants in the parade, most of those watching the parade were also dressed in tradition Czech clothing.


Even the dogs got in their Czech outfits.


In addition to the usual bands, floats, and candy-tossers, there were plenty of businesses cleverly advertising --


And local politicians in the parade.


I didn't get a good picture of this guy, but he was pulling a manure-spreader with a sign on it that said "Politician's Special." Sounded like he was anti-political, but I later learned that he was also a politician.


Since most Czechs and their descendants are Catholic, the Catholic church is the only church in town. It was built in 1898 and the stained glass windows were beautiful.


They even have a Polka Mass!


The local quilt shop had a quilt show, and had a couple Lewis and Clark quilts. This was my favorite.


The next day we went to the Lewis and Clark Heritage Days at the local state park. The highlight was the Native American group, the Many Mocassins Dance Troupe. They did some great dancing, including this hoop dance using 25 hoops.


We were parked at the Cottonwood Campground, on a lake just outside Yankton, SD. It was a beautiful park, but very crowded on the weekends.


When Lewis and Clark went through here in 1804, the Missouri River was much different. Without the present-day dams, the river was shallow and hard to navigate. Many times the men ended up pulling the 55-foot long keelboat.

With all the energy that took, each man needed to eat up to 9 pounds of meat every day! Fortunately, near here, they killed their first buffalo. Buffalo kept them going all the way to the Rocky Mountains.