Victoria Czech Heritage Festival set Sept. 22

The 22nd Annual Victoria Czech Heritage Festival is getting organized and plans are for another big celebration on Sunday, Sept. 23 at the Victoria Community Center.

The festival is sponsored by the Victoria County Czech Heritage Society and has drawn well over a thousand people consistently for more than a decade.

As usual, the festival's first event is a televised Czech-English Mass celebrated at Our Lady of Victory Cathedral in Victoria by Rev. Joseph Hybner from the Flatonia Catholic Parish.

The public is invited to attend the Mass starting at 9 a.m. Once the Mass is celebrated, events really kick off at the festival site.

Events at the Community Center begin promptly at 10 a.m. with five musical events held throughout the day. Frank Milder and the Wharton County Czech Heritage Singers perform first. The Shiner Hobo Band takes over at 11 a.m. and entertains until 1 p.m. followed by the Czechaholics - a young and popular new band. Then the Red Ravens Band will join the Czechaholics at 3:45 p.m. for a onehalf hour concert. The Red Ravens follow solo continuing with good dancing music until 8 p.m.

The 2nd Annual Homemade Beer and Wine Show, and the Czech Cultural Demonstrations are back again due to high interest.

The first Homemade Beer and Wine Show was a tremendous success last year with 99 entries brought in from home and small backyard brewers and vineyards from throughout the state.

Several classes in the show are set in each division. Czechs are long in tradition and as a result have added six cultural demonstrations to this year's festival. Attendees will learn about how they can better make traditional items including: cleaning poppyseed and making poppyseed kolaches, making Czech-style cheese rolls, brewing beer at home, making Mustang wine, and making homemade noodles. Recipes will be included!

For those into making jelly and wine right off the vine - "All about Growing Grapes, Varieties, etc." will be presented at 4:30 p.m. by Fritz Westover who is a Texas Gulf Coast viticulturist with Texas Cooperative Extension from Houston.

The festival will continue to serve its famous Czech stew and sausage lunch plates for $6.50 starting at 11 a.m. Assorted fruit and sausage kolaches and homemade chicken noodle soup will also be available. Sausage wraps are available after lunch.

Other activities include an auction, children's games, pastry wheel, arts & crafts, numerous exhibit booths and a Czech Heritage Museum with antique and unique items brought in by area members for all to view.

Admission is only $5.00 per person for all four bands and all activities. Youth under 15 years of age are admitted free of charge.

For more information call Marjorie Matula at 361- 575-0820 or e-mail her at MarjorieMatula@aol.com.

For information on the Tarok Tournament, call Joe Pustka at 361-578-2507, and or for information on the the homemade beer and wine show call Friench and Martha Tarkington at 361-578- 5040 (wine) or Greg Johnson at 361-485-9708 (beer).

For further details, visit the Victoria County Czech Historical Society's Web site at: www.vcchs.homestead. com.