By Tracy Overstreet
tracy.overstreet@theindependent.com

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Lane Hickenbottom Kenneth and Marjo O¹Mara of Eddyville waltz to the tunes of the Friends Czech Band Sunday in Elba. Lane Hickenbottom Seventy-five-year-old Eddie Stepanek plays accordion for the Friends Czech Band Sunday at the 2008 Kolache Shoot-Out in Elba. Stepanek said he started playing the instrument when he was 13 years old. Click Thumbnails to View

And nothing goes better in a polka band than an accordion.

"I've played accordion since I was 13 and I'm 75 now," said Eddie Stepanek, the squeeze box player for the Friends Czech Band.

The Friends, along with the Manchester Band and Czechlanders Band, provided musical entertainment for Elba's eighth annual Kolache Shoot-Out on Sunday at the Elba High School gymnasium.

When Stepanek became a teen, his grandpa visited from Oregon and left a button accordion. Curious Stepanek began to do some self-teaching.

"There was no radio. No TV. So what do you do in the winter?" he said. "I just kept fooling around with it until I played songs."

Ample dances in the St. Paul area made him more proficient as the years passed. His button model has given way to a keyboard accordion, which operates much like a "pie-an-oh, only you've got the bellows," Stepanek said.

Friends Czech Band leader and saxophonist Dale Matousek also learned on his own from a mail-order correspondence course.

"We need to keep polka music alive," the 79-year-old Matousek said. "It makes you tap your toes. It's happy music."

"And it's in our blood and in our brain," Stepanek said.

The Friends have two upcoming dances in Grand Island at the Platt-Duetsche on April 6 and at the Liederkranz on April 20. Both dances are from 6 to 9:30 p.m. and will include favorites such as "One-Eyed Jack," "Owl Polka" and "The Beer-Barrel Polka."

Matousek said the dancers can also expect one of his favorites, "The Loveless Polka," which drew in the lovebirds Kenneth and Marjo O'Mara of Eddyville on Sunday.

The couple both lost previous spouses and met new love on the dance floor about two years ago.

"But he didn't polka," Marjo complained as the couple stopped to wax their dance shoes on Sunday. "He would waltz. He would two-step, but he wouldn't polka."

So she polkaed with other people including politicians.

"I danced right here with (3rd District U.S. Rep.) Adrian Smith before he was elected," Marjo said, pointing to the Elba gym floor. "He knows how to polka."

The couple decided time was ticking by, and because they enjoyed each other's company, they should get married.

"My friend said, 'Marjo you can't marry him. He doesn't polka,'" she said.

"He will learn," Marjo replied.

The couple tied the knot in September 2006. Turns out Kenneth didn't need to learn to polka.

"He knew how to polka all along. He was just holding out," Marjo said. "He's a better dancer than me."

As the Friends Czech Band wound down and the Czechlanders set up, Shoot-Out emcee Willie Skala took over the microphone.

The Kolache Shoot-Out, an annual fundraiser for the Elba Community Foundation, drew 82 kolache bakers, he said. There were 65 adult entries and 17 youths competing for the champion title.

Elba baker Cheryl Gregoski and her apricot kolaches took the 2008 champion title.

"There's a little bit of Dane in them," Gregoski quipped about her baking. "And I make my own filling."