National Polka Festival

The National Polka Festival is an annual parade and festival held in Ennis, Texas celebrating the Czech heritage in the city. The 3-day festival is held every Memorial Day weekend. Most of the party halls offer a lunch or dinner with Czech foods such as klobase (sausage), sauerkraut, and kolache, as well as live entertainment with traditional polka music and dancing.

The National Polka Festival started in 1967 when a group of men, Raymond Zapletal, Len Gehrig, and Joe Liska, all of Ennis, came together to honor the city's strong Czech heritage. The men had been to other cities and seen the large response to polka bands from the people of Czechoslovakian descent. They believed the people could be brought to Ennis for the same reasons. They needed approval from the Chamber of Commerce before they could begin the festival. The Chamber of Commerce Manager, Jack McKay, agreed that the idea could greatly benefit Ennis and the Czechoslovakian community in the area and approved of the festival. The festival began as a celebration in several fraternal halls in the beginning, but grew to a parade and street festival the next few years. The festival was a huge success in just a few years, with over 30,000 visitors attending the parade.

The festival continues in tradition and style similar to those early celebrations. The founders and their successors have insisted on maintaining the authenticity and values of the Czech tradition even today. All entries of the parade, street dancing, and bands performing are encouraged to have Czech themes and play Czech music. The festival has taken years of work from the Polka Festival Committee, Chamber of Commerce, and the Ennis Convention & Visitors Bureau. This festival today is one of the largest of its kind in the United States attracting as many as 50,000 people.

Over the years, the festival has had to change with the time. Today they have Grammy award winning bands such as Brave Combo, the Jodie Mikula Orchestra, Czech and Then Some, Ennis Czech Boys, Fritz Hodie and the Fabulous Six, Alex Meixner and many more bands from across Texas, the United States and the Czech Republic. There is a corporate sponsorship with Budweiser and the festival receives big advertising support from 96.3 FM KSCS. This is one of the only festivals that have three spacious halls with large dance floors where you can dance and enjoy anything from a good polka, waltz, or even a folk dance. The festival has one of the biggest parades in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. After the parade there is an abundance of activities held in downtown Ennis to be enjoyed by the entire family.

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