Kolache Festival

Last Saturday, May 7th was another fun day. First, it was a great day because it was the first Saturday after finals, and Jared was able to have fun without having homework hanging over his head. It was the beginning of his month break.

When we first moved to Oklahoma, we somehow learned about the annual Kolache Festival that is held in Prague, Oklahoma. We knew that it was something we would want to attend. Kolaches are a Czech or Bohemian dessert: they are a sweet roll with fruit and a crumbled mixture of sugar, butter, and flour on top. Jared has Bohemian heritage on his maternal grandpa's side; his Great Grandpa Kauer lived in the Czech (we are pretty sure). His Grandma Kauer has made kolaches every year for Christmas and other occasions since Jared's childhood. 

Prague, Oklahoma is a small town of 2,500 people, but they attract some 25,000 people for the Kolache Festival each year. 

Allie admiring the lady dancing in a pretty dress.

Unfortunately, we missed a lot of the festivities earlier in the day, such as a parade, but we did catch some traditional Bohemian dancing in traditional dress. The youth from Prague compete to be selected as the Kolache King, Queen, Prince, and Princess (depending on their age). They wear traditional clothes from where in the Czech their ancestors come from, speak a salutation in Czech, and some other things the week before that we don't remember.

As a side note, Nikki was reminded of her childhood and lifelong friends, the Sals. Their dad was from the Czech Republic and they had some dolls that had dresses similar to the girls in the above picture. They were beautiful dolls.

It was at least 90 degrees Fahrenheit outside, so Nikki was not excited about the idea of using a porta-potty. We decided to walk down the street to see if we could find anywhere that would allow Nikki to use their restroom. When we rounded a corner onto a new street, we found the Prague Bakery. There had been a booth selling kolaches by the dancing, but they had been in the sun all day and were very sweaty. So we were excited about the bakery for two reasons: 1) buying kolaches from an air conditioned environment, and 2) a potential bathroom for Nikki to use. We were successful in both counts. Though the bathroom had a sign stating, "No Public Restroom," the lady told Jared that she just couldn't turn down a pregnant lady. This was one time when Nikki was grateful to be showing A LOT.

We were excited to compare the kolaches to those that Jared's grandma had made his whole life. Both are delicious, but they are different in a few ways. The ones we bought at the festival were a little more fluffy. And we also got to try a few new flavors: cherry, cream cheese, blueberry, and pineapple. We loved the pineapple, and we have found a recipe so that we can try making some ourselves.

Pineapple, Poppy Seed, and Cherry Kolaches

 

Blueberry, Cream Cheese, and Strawberry Kolaches

After visiting the bakery, we decided to head back to the dancing, but we found a park instead (it was right behind where the dancing was). The park was Allie's highlight of the adventure. Luckily it was in the shade, because she ran herself ragged and was drenched in sweat by the time we left.

We think that we will probably go next year, unless graduation is the same day. And we will make sure to go earlier in the day so that we can catch the parade and other festivities that we missed this time. But we still had a great time this year.

Here's a link for how to make kolaches (this site does not include the recipe for pineapple):
http://www.praguekolachefestival.com/recipes.htm

Here's another site with recipes, including pineapple and cream cheese:
http://7thspace.com/ethnic_recipes/27427/kolaches_with_filling_choices.html