The Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center in La Grange will host the annual Heritage Festival & Muziky on October 17. The Fest will be altered to a one-day event for 2020 only.
Dean Hansen, polka bandleader from Ithaca, Nebraska, passed away on Wednesday, Aug. 12, at the age of 87. You can find his obituary at https://www.reichmuthfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/Dean-Hansen/.
The Central Texas Accordion Association published this lovely piece of music in their August 2020 newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter by emailing Dr. Mitchell R. "Mitch" White, president of the CTAA, at austinaccordion@gmail.com
Back in July, Texas Folklife launched the Texas Folk and Traditional Artist COVID-19 Relief Fund. The fund provides grants of $500 to community-based folk and traditional artists impacted by COVID-19. Grants are a one-time award made to individuals to assist with their financial well-being.
In spring of 1918, a pneumonia/ influenza pandemic began to encircle the globe, it was commonly called “the Grippe” or the “three day flu.” The Grippe appeared to abate by the summer of 1918, however the strain morphed into a more deadly variety and was given the name the Spanish Flu. People were dying from this new disease all over the U.S. and the world. Government censorship forbade the reporting of it as not to excite the population, since they were focused on the slaughter of their men in Europe.