PEMBERVILLE, Ohio — When North Toledoans Mike and Mary Stockner planned a date night that revolved around polka, they always took their daughter, Dorothy.
That little girl, who learned to dance shortly after she started walking, is now 92 — and still showing off the polka moves.
Now Dorothy Romp and living in Monclova, she took several turns around the dance area Sunday at the Pemberville Polka Party in the Park.
“When there’s music, I want to be there,” Mrs. Romp said. “My mother and dad belonged to the Bavarian Sports Club in Toledo, and every dance, they took me with them — never a babysitter.
“I grew up learning everything, I never had a lesson,” she said. “I can’t explain it. It’s in my heart.”
Mrs. Romp firmly believes bobbing and bouncing to the polka music keeps her body and heart healthy.
“Everybody says to me, ‘You’re so healthy.’ It’s the dancing. When you go dancing every week, it keeps you healthy. I don’t have any aches and pains,” she said.
Mrs. Romp is a member of the Ohio Polka Boosters, of which about a dozen members visited Pemberville for the polka party in Memorial Park.
President Cindy Booth said the boosters travel to four or five polka events a month.
Mrs. Booth, who lives in Petersburg, Mich., learned to polka with her grandmother at Polish weddings and in the basement.
“It’s really fun. It’s happy music,” she said. “And it’s very good exercise, much more fun than running.”
The simple 1-2-3 beat of every song makes the genre easy to learn.
“Waltzes are slower, polkas are faster,” Mrs. Booth said, adding that some of her favorites are Just Another Polka by Eddie Fisher, the Tennessee Waltz , and anything by North Shore Polka.
Piquing interest in polka isn’t easy, she said. Most club members are older, and the coronavirus pandemic put a hold on many gatherings that just never rebounded.
The group travels mostly in Ohio, following polka bands, and has also gone to Texas and West Virginia for events.
At Sunday’s gathering, dancing was limited by the grassy area and not having a hard surface, which many said they prefer.
Under the shade of a canopy of trees, most of the polka party-goers camped out in lawn chairs and on blankets. In addition to the music, they enjoyed free pool and splash pad time, twisty balloon creations, food trucks, and raffles, with proceeds benefitting the pool.
Jim Hitchings, 83, of Arcadia, Ohio, picked up polka in 1971.
“Polka music is happy music 90 percent of the time,” he said. “It’s just great talent, great music, and a lot of fun.”
In his heyday, Mr. Hitchings traveled annually with up to 80 people to New York’s Catskill Mountains for a polka weekend led by Jimmy Sturr and his 18-time Grammy Award-winning band, where people danced from 7:30 a.m. to midnight.
He’s not ready to call the genre dead or dying. When he spends winters in Mesa, Ariz., Mr. Hitchings said some polka events he attends are sold out.
Brandon Best, Emma Best, and Rahsaan Gainer, all of Bowling Green, said they were enjoying the sounds of the bands, but probably weren’t going to pursue polka lessons.
“It’s been great so far,” Mr. Best said. “We were tapping our feet, and clapping and snapping.”
Dawn Chesnutte traveled from Fremont to follow the Los Hermanos band.
“We listen to them all the time,” she said in between bites of taco from a food truck.
Pemberville Mayor Carol Bailey said festival organizers purposely included the Mexican sound.
“We have a high Mexican-American population here,” she said. “We’ve got the Mexican Tejano band next — which is Mexican polka — and we’ve got the German polka. We’re sort of doing a toggle effect with those two bands.”
Pemberville, which has a rich German history, annually hosted a three-day polka festival around the Independence Day holiday for many years, Mrs. Bailey said. The current one-day polka party is designed as its successor.
Party organizer Gloria Enriquez praised the accordion players in both bands, and the sound that the instrument adds.
“Can you feel it?” she said, moving to the music.
The Aaron Dussing Polka Band has a more traditional, German sound and Los Hermanos plays with a more Latino style, Ms. Enriquez said.
For more information about the Ohio Polka Boosters, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/268544692000404/.
Most Popular
Comments / 0