Announcement

Folks, the Bill Mraz Dance Hall Appreciation and Benefit Dance on Jan. 22 at the KC Halls on East Whitney Drive in Houston was a tremendous success!

Sixteen bands donated their time to provide the entertainment. It was eight hours of polka music in one hall from seven bands, and 12 hours of music in the other hall from one Cajun, one western swing and seven country bands.

The bands were terrific, and seemed to really enjoy playing to the full house and full dance floor. Musicians love a large, appreciative audience with dancers, and that’s what they had. The music was just super, and the variety fantastic.

The dancers and music fans had a great party. For many it was a “Bill Mraz Reunion,” and “therapy” for the loss of the hall. For others it was a chance to hear 16 bands perform for up to 12 hours, or hear their favorite band, and listen to new bands. Others just loved the “party” and the spectacle. The dance floors were crowded all day, and the halls standing room only in the evening.

There were 2400 admissions, making the event a huge success. Almost 900 plates of BBQ were served. The auction, flea market and split-the-pot did well, and provided entertainment throughout the day, contributing to the party atmosphere.

A big tip of the hat to Ronnie Machac and Robert Coler for the sound systems, and to Phillip Berger and Mark Halata for coordinating the bands.

We had great publicity in advance thanks to Dorothy Gurka and Terri Parris, and TV coverage on Saturday with an interview of Larry & Stephanie.

Karl Rieger did a great job in coordinating the food supply, and Thomas Sykowski worked hard on Saturday to help make the dinner happen. Thanks to Jake’s Finer Foods for all the help!

Jerry Lewis and the Killin’ Time Kookers did a fantastic job. Jerry is a true professional, and was a great asset to the team. We were in good hands, and we appreciate what they did.

It was a pleasure to work with Joe Pavlik of the KCs and Rita Rekieta of the Ladies Auxiliary. The Halls were great, the parking went smoothly, and Rita’s help with the dinner and putting on the desserts/coffee was invaluable. We understand the KCs sold over 7000 beers!

Betty Beyer was a “rock” of support for the whole BBQ dinner. The Po.L.K. of A. dance was a hit too!

The Auction crew was fantastic. Special thanks to auctioneer Allen Jozwiak, Julie Huble, Hardy LeBlanc, Meredith Muir, Bill Collins, Al & Marilyn Snider, and the rest of the crew.

The Treasure Trove Flea Mart and Split-the-Pot were successes and helped provide a festival atmosphere. Thanks Marlys Rivard!

The sponsor list is shown below. Their support made the event possible.
Finally, a special thanks to all the individual volunteers, who made it all happen and discovered along the way that working at such events can be the most fun of all!

The Bill Mraz Dance Hall Appreciation Benefit and Dance will be talked about for years. Those who took part saw….and made….history. And it was fun!

John Rivard - Coordinator

Thank you to these generous sponsors:

B & W Meat Market
Country Legends 97.1 FM Radio
Gurka Consulting Services, Marketing & Printing
Hartman & Associates
Integrity Productions, Sound System in Old Hall
Jake's Finer Foods
Killin' Time Kookers
Knights of Columbus 2917
KC Ladies Auxiliary
KCHN 1050 AM Radio
KILT 100.3 FM Radio
KOOP 91.7 FM Radio
KPFT 90.1 FM Radio
KRBE 104 FM Radio
KULP 1390 AM Radio
Merlo's Limousines & Charters
Mix 96.1 FM Radio
Mrs. Baird's Bread
Stein Hansen, Building Rendering
The Leader Newspaper
The New 93Q FM Radio
The Telstars, Sound System in New Hall
The Texas Polka News

A special thanks to the bands who donated their services!

An added thanks to all the volunteers who made this event possible!

A Message from Larry and Stephanie Janda

Dear Dance Hall Friends,

We would like to extend a sincere and heartfelt THANK YOU to each and every one of you who came out to show your support at our benefit on Saturday, January 22, 2005. What a day it turned out to be! God graced us with a beautiful day. The many outstanding musicians playing a variety of great music, a superb barbeque dinner prepared by a professional cook-off team and other attractions such as mini-auctions and a flea market made for a truly unique event. It was wonderful to see so many of our family and friends from over the years in attendance, many from out of town. Oh, how we have missed you!

The event would not have been such a success without the tremendous efforts of the Steering Committee and the many volunteers, family and friends that lent a helping hand. In addition to all the aforementioned, we’d like to also give special recognition to the following individuals:

Special thanks to John Rivard for the countless hours spent in holding this group together, for without his tireless efforts the benefit would not have been possible. Special thanks also to his lovely wife Marlys, whose boundless energy and enthusiasm was as evident as a committee chairperson as it always is as a dancer.

To our family members Pat Hataway, Eva Herman and Kristi Ramsey, thanks for your help and moral support over the long haul and with the benefit itself.

Thanks to Joe and Cindy Messina for being such loyal and trusted friends and our right hands. Joe and Cindy spent almost every night alongside us at the Dance Hall and went above and beyond the call of duty for the benefit as well.

Doug and Ann Reinbold, our longtime friends, thanks for coming to our rescue in so many ways and for being such great friends.

Carl Flowers, Gary and Dorothy Hester, Stan and Donna Pryor, thanks for all your support and helping us out along the way.

Thank you so much Angel Jurak for working so hard in assisting the Auction Committee in procuring auction items.

Thanks to all the auction and flea market donors whose donations were much appreciated.

We also owe a deep debt of gratitude to Billy Bush, Oscar Gamez and Chris Cegielski, three of the absolute finest gentlemen of the City of Houston.

Last but not least, thanks to our webmaster Jerry Flanagan for his courteous and professional service in managing our website.

If we’ve omitted anyone, our sincerest apologies. We hope you understand we’ve had a lot on our minds since late October.

We hope you all enjoyed seeing everyone as much as we did. As we have said many times, we do not have patrons, customers, bands or vendors, ONLY FAMILY AND FRIENDS. Saturday, January 22, 2005 was truly a blessed day that will be remembered for many years to come as not just a benefit for a tragic event, but a reunion of friends that will forever have a common bond, The Bill Mraz Dance Hall. Thanks again for your help, support and friendship and may God Bless each of you until we meet again.

Larry & Stephanie Janda