The Majek Orchestra performing at the Sanford Schmid Ampitheather in La Grange for the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center's Heritage Fest and Muziky on Saturday, Oct. 16.
World War I was a tremendous shock and how America treats its 205,000 wounded returning soldiers. The VFW was completely overwhelmed and was struggling. It was obvious the government wasn’t really doing anything as it was brought to its knees by the war, financially and policy wise. Some forward thinking veterans founded the American Legion as a non-governmental organization to assist the battle-fatigued military coming home to either begin, repair, or resume their interrupted lives. The government had little plans to assist the men who lives were rerouted and survived the horrors of war, or whether to include those who had served in various non-violent capacities of the war machine. This private organization lobbied Congress to step up to the plate and be responsible for their actions and succeeded two years later, when Congress established the Veteran’s Bureau, the forerunner of the Veteran’s Administration.
Each year the Texas Czech Heritage & Cultural Center honors musicians and/or public figures who have advanced the Czech heritage within the community.
Baca’s Band, the name doesn’t imply a musical dynasty or more than a couple of musicians getting together in a garage for fun. The truth is that these two words on an advertisement guaranteed healthy ticket sales beginning in 1892 and lasting for many decades to come and at times became a catch-all reference to any band with a Baca family member in it. It’s interesting that is was usually billed as “Baca’s Band” not as “The Baca Band”. Another interesting facet of Baca’s Band was that reporters when documenting an event applied many adjectives to the name, as the title to this story illustrates, while other orchestras were barely mentioned, if at all. The terms orchestra vs. band has long been debated; generally, orchestra is more than five members with multiple instruments, while a band usually refers to a brass band of several musicians with horns. At functions in the late 1800s and first half of the 1900s, a brass band would play in the afternoon to the delight of the elders and the orchestra would play for a dance that evening, usually the same band.
The Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center in La Grange will host the annual Heritage Festival & Muziky on October 15th and 16th. The Fest will open on Friday in front of the Main Center and TCHCC’s famous homemade Chicken & Dumplings will be served while it lasts in the Hanslik Banquet Hall beginning at 5:30 pm.