The Pulaski Polka Days in Pulaski Wisconsin in one of the biggest polka festivals in the country. There are 23 Polish polka bands that come to entertain us. The entry fees at $1 (yes that is one green back) the first day, $10 on Friday and same on Saturday and free on Sunday. Can you believe free.
This is more music then your ear can endure. Occasionally I use a wadded up napkins for earplugs to mute the sound a bit. Not to block it out, just to save my eardrums from exploding.
We learned about this festival three years ago while attending a horrible polka fest in Sioux Falls South Dakota. Sioux Falls was a nice city and luckily the Indians (real Indians) were having a festival at the same fairgrounds as the polka festival. We enjoyed their drumming and great elaborate costumes as they paraded around to celebrate all veterans. At the polka festival the music was a disaster. Individually the bands were all talented and interesting and varied styles of polka. Some were Polish style with the double trumpets playing harmony in lock step drowning out most of the other instruments. German bands carried the big tubes going um-pa pa to the beat of the music. Some were good of tunes played with clarinets and saxophones accompanied by an accordion. The situation that made this a disaster was the the building logistics. The promoter thought he could set up the two stages about 2o foot apart with a curtain to separate the two. Music played that loudly bleeds through a floor to ceiling curtain. One thing lead to another and the bands cranked up their sound systems louder in louder to over power the conflicting sound making for disaster. All the promoter had to do was to quickly adjust the schedule so only one band played at a time and all would be happy.
If we hadn’t endured that festival, I would have never picked up a flyer to learn about Pulaski Polka Days and one of the most enjoyable experiences we have had. We have traveled to Pulaski for three years and enjoyed it more each year. Who could imaging hearing the Polka Family band for free on a warm Sunday in Wisconsin?
I love to take a lot of photos and videos. My video cameras have improved along with taking the videos. I try to be close to the band to really watch them play. I enjoy listening to the sound of the bands after the festival and upload most to YouTube. I add the name of the song if I know it or just upload it for the enjoyment. YouTube has all my videos under my name – JoyceKropewnicki or under the name of the band or festival.
After the first year in 2009, we learned the best thing to do is to buy a couple of folding chairs from the near-by Walmart in Green Bay. We set up the chairs at the edge of the dance floor. We enjoy watching the people and have easy access to get up and dance around the floor.
One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the near-by Mayflower Greenhouse close to the Green Bay airport in Hobart, Wisconsin. We happened across it the first year and what a delightful experience. Jan Wos (pronounced Voss), the owner of the greenhouse, showed us around in 2009. He takes all types of flowers and plants and arranges them in all sorts of containers. Some succulents were planted in picture frames and around wagon wheels, petunias in wooden carts. Old saxophones where turned into water fountains along with piano benches holding a bouquet of greenery and flowers. His imagination and creativity held no bounds.
2010 Mayflower Greenhouse – Hobart, Wisconsin
It was just a delightful experience to visit this place. This year we did the same. We entered on the side door. Walking through the place held the same enchantment. I peeked in his office window and noticed a 2010 award for excellence on the window sill. No surprise. This guy was way talented and gave so much to the community.
We gently touched the plants along the rows of the greenhouse. They were lush and firm from the humidity and care they were given. As we came to the front of the store we noticed a table with a visitor’s book. Looking closer we noticed it was a memorial book for Jan Wos. To our sadness we had learned he had passed away just two months earlier at the age of 62 of a heart attack. What a loss to the community. The joy he brought will be missed.
Ideas Jon created were still fresh at the greenhouse. The parking lot was lined with great baskets of petunias. He had upturned dead trees, trimmed the root base to a four foot diameter, cut back the tree length to about 10 to 15 foot then set the top into the ground in a one foot pipe. He placed large cascading petunias in the root base on the top. His imagination was boundless.
2011 Mayflower Greenhouse Hobart Wisconsin