Sunday, June 27, 2010

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.

8 comments:

  1. You are quite an inspiration: since we're going to go full-time in a year, I'd started to wonder what we'd do when we weren't hunting the big fish - an after following your blog for a while I realized we'd start looking for things like this. I bet there are more museums, small town celebrations, and historical sites to last a lifetime. Just this summer I've discovered new activities and historical sites in places we've been visiting for years.

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  2. What a fun festival! Was there special food! I love trying local specialities. That campground looks awesome!

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  3. I still say Y'all are having too much fun.
    I am having a great time traveling with y'all through your great pictures and narrative.

    Thanks Dan (Bubbadan)

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  4. Wow sounds like your having fun I would love go to those events they looked great. I feel sorry for those guys that had to pull that keelboat, whew.

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  5. Fantastic posts and so interesting. All the fun of travelling, and with a purpose, and so educational. Wonderful.

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  6. I am so enjoying your Lewis n Clark trip!! Probably as much as you are!! We stayed in Wasta and Kodaka when we traveled thru SD, both very small towns....ITs amazing how much of the European Culture remains intact in the midwest. I love that quilt, its an amazing piece! The title of this post was perfect!! I know you are having an amazing summer, here its the hottest JUNE ever on record---you are headed in the RIGHT (NORTH)direction--go safely!

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  7. A polka mass - hard to imagine. But then that's what they said about our guitar masses in the 70's.

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