Aug 13, 2007 - 04:04:00 CDT
At her 100th birthday party Sunday, people who love her, walked all over her.They know what's good for her.
About 250 people turned out to celebrate a big birthday for the Bohemian Hall, eight miles south of Mandan, by putting some life into the old building that isn't used like it once was.
The place that at one time hosted weekly Saturday dances into the wee hours - a lone accordion player, sometimes, turning a roomful of farmers into polka fools - now has just a couple of social events a year.
But Sunday, it was like the wild, old times.
People outside the building could still hear the accordion music. People inside could barely hear.
Between the wooden floors and the old tin ceiling, the acoustics did their job, and the room became a roiling high tide of music, tall tales, dancers and laughter.
The connections run deep. There were people in the crowd whose grandparents had built the building. And old people who knew each other when they were youngsters. In the crowd were gray-haired octogenarians who were in their 20s again, newlyweds again - at least in their minds. Because when they're in that building, it all comes rushing back - in this place where they had their wedding dances so many decades ago.
"It was a wild and wooly affair,"said Eleanor Kottsick, 84, of Mandan, about her wedding dance, held in 1943 there.
And like most events there, it went on and on, past the younger guests' usual bedtime.
"I can still see the kids sleeping on the stage,"she said and laughed.
When there was a social event Bohemian Hall, people didn't knock off early.
The Saturday night dances lasted until midnight and then everyone lined up to eat the midnight lunch down in the basement, where there were the traditional offerings from the women in this Czech-Bohemian community. Foods like kolaches, and cinnamon twists and homemade angel food cake.
So it was deja vu Sunday. Those same foods and more jammed tables at the hall.
There was also beer, again, but this time in cans.
Back in the day, the beer was in kegs in the basement, and Ron Mrnak, 67, of Mandan, remembers being a little boy, about age 7, when he and friends would sneak downstairs to take sips while the adults were dancing.
People didn't have to reminisce Sunday about the outdoor toilets.
They're still there.
Although now they're a bit more luxurious. Now, there's toilet paper. Some of those attending Sundays event remember the days when things were rougher - when pages of the Sears catalogue were used.
The building still doesn't have running water. Too expensive, for the lodge's membership.
There is electricity. But while there's an outdoor light in front, there isn't one to light the building's backside. One member joked that area was kept dark because everyone knew that in back is where sweethearts stole kisses away from the crowd.
The lodge could use more members, said Margie (Charvat) Muth, 59, a lodge officer. The membership, 114 of them, are mostly 60 and up. And most of them are beyond wanting to get on a ladder and repairs things. And there are ongoing costs. Electricity costs $31 a month, and the lodge made a recent decision to buy liability insurance.
The lodge, formally known as the Z.C.B.J. Lodge No. 147 Bohemian Hall - which spelled out is "Zapadni Ceska Bratrska Jednota," and which translated is "Western Bohemian Fraternal Association" - was built to be a business meeting place and social place.
The lodge is a branch of the Western Fraternal Life Insurance Co., based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which offers life insurance policies. Buying one makes you a lodge member.
Marie Weinberger, 42, of Mandan, the lodge's treasurer, has been a member since birth, and did the same for her children. Her son, Jacob Weinberger, 14, is the lodge's only juvenile lodge member at this time.
Marie Weinberger remembers the lodge gatherings were the one time the neighbor kids would get together, outside the hall, while the adults danced inside. She also remembers the great food, except for what was known by some as the Bohemian Hall sandwich - diced ham, eggs and pickles which she kept her distance from.
Rose Marie Dacus, 78, who grew up south of the hall, said she was taken to the hall since she was a baby, and remembers watching the adults dance. She said the hall was the place to socialize, because in those days people didn't just casually jump in the car and drive all the long way to town.
She left the area in the 1940s after getting married. But the ties are still binding. She now lives in Palm Springs, Calif., but bought a little house in Mandan so she could be near her ailing mother.
"I walk in (to the hall)and I see them ... the 'ghosts,'"she said about the memories that easily come alive.
"My children love North Dakota,"she said.
Her daughter, Madi Adams, an artist in Seattle, is planning on establishing a gallery in the area.
And another generation also has love for the area and hall. In 2003, Madi Adams' daughter requested that her high school graduation party for family and a couple friends be at the hall. People flew in from various locations for that event.
"It was magical,"Madi Adams said about the party. The hall was decorated with Christmas lights and fresh flowers. The food, however, wasn't old-fashioned fare. Mom had the meal catered.
Chuck Suchy, who lives nearby, a local musician who has performed on Minnesota Public Radio's "Prairie Home Companion" among countless other venues, started his music career there when he was in third grade. He was holding an accordion then, and Sunday was holding one again.
He told the crowd that the hall, and what it represents, is what community is all about.
"Community is coming together and being together ... (which is) something society desperately needs now,"he said.
ASuchy song, "Saturday Night at the Hall,"is jammed with his memories of long-ago dances there.
He sang the song, and it almost seemed as if the entire room, the entire hall, misted up.
She seems to do that to people.
Anyone interested in becoming a member of Bohemian Hall should contact the treasurer, Marie Weinberger, at 663-4796.
(Reach reporter Virginia Grantier at 250-8254 or at virginia.grantier@;bismarcktribune.com.)
Angela Dacus wrote on Aug 14, 2007 11:17 PM:
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