For the majority of the year Wilber, Nebraska lives in relative anonymity, another rural Nebraska farm town scratching out an existence as best it can. In early August for three days, however, Wilber thrives with it's annual Czech Days festival. Unlike many rural farm towns in Nebraska, Wilber has continued to grow each census. Platted in 1873 it's population in 1880 was 710 souls and it's continued to grow and at last census in 2020 the population was 1,937 souls. Fun fact... Dana Altman, head coach of the Oregon Ducks men's basketball team hails from Wilber and began his basketball career as a play at the now defunct Fairbury Junior College that was in Fairbury, Nebraska. Wilber has put on 62 Czech days and we have been organizing some sort of ride since roughly 2017, although I attended my first Czech Days in 2014. The starting location has changed from year to year but we have always approached from the east prior to this year when we shifted the start to Plymouth, Nebraska which is almost directly south of Wilber.
The weather was fantastic for the ride with temps starting just below the 70° mark. The group was pretty big as we set sail on Saturday, matching our previous high number or riders in 2018 and I am sure the cooler temps helped in that aspect. There have been some scorchers in past years and even a rainy year or two so having the nice weather was a welcomed sight.
The course this year ended up being relatively flat also which helped us make quick work of the 20-ish miles from Plymouth to Wilber.
We ran into some friends who had ridden out from Lincoln and as is tradition we all touched the Wilber wiener that resides in front of Frank's Smokehouse.
After the wiener we headed over to the Sokol Pavilion for brauts, kraut and kolaches. Sokol Pavilion was built in 1930 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. The Pavillion was originally the home for Sokol gymnastics, a Czech gymnastics organization that dates back to 1862 when it was founded in Prague. We didn't do any tumbling on Saturday but we did wrestle some beers down.
As is also tradition, we stopped at the Wilber sign proclaiming it to be the Czech Capital of the United States. They aren't just blowing smoke either, the very first Czech Days in 1962 brought in 20,000 people and 60,000 people in 1965. Numbers are one thing but in 1963 then Governor Frank Morrison officially proclaimed Wilber to be the Czech Capital of Nebraska. If that weren't enough to cement the claim, in 1987 then President Ronald Reagan degreed Wilber the Czech Capital of the United States. So when Wilber makes the claim they have the pedigree to back it up.
Official ditch beer sight, caught 'Grammin.
Cooler temps in the morning gave way to high temps and more sun in the afternoon prompting a stop at the Red Zone in De Witt, Nebraska on the ride back. The Red Zone is your typical quaint small town Nebraska bar that time seemingly has forgotten but this one also doubles as a semi-shrine to the late, great Elvis Presley with several shelves of knick-knacks and bric-a-brac. No blue suede shoes were found in the establishment.
Back in Plymouth a stop at the more modern looking Bart's Bar was in order for cold refreshments, we miss timed our arrival and hit the sad hours between lunch and dinner when the grill gets a bit of a rest so a liquid lunch is all we could muster up. Good ride, great group and as always a fun time at the Wilber, Nebraska Czech Days.
Didn't get enough of Czech Days, check out the companion video.
No comments:
Post a Comment