Second Chance Emporium (SCE) recently donated $20,000 to the James Dick Foundation for the Performing Arts (Round Top Festival Institute - RTFI). Monies donated will be used to fund the Annual Young Person’s Concert this summer. The mission of RTFI is to provide high quality artistic programming and educational opportunities while serving as a vital cultural resource for the public. Pictured front from left: Darlene Strahan, SCE Assistant Store Director; Gayle Schielack, SCE Store Director; Pat Johnson, RTFI Associate Curator; James Dick, RTFI Founder and Artistic Director; Marlene Schnell, SCE Assistant Store Director; back row: Keelia Ritch, RTFI Associate Librarian; Lamar Lentz, RTFI Managing Director and Iverson Eliopoulos, RTFI Program Director.

Two organizations—the Polka Lovers Club of Texas Museum (PLCTM), located at 275 West Fairgrounds Road in La Grange, within the Fayette County Fairgrounds Czech Village, and the Texas Polka Music Museum (TPMM), formerly located at 712 Lyons Avenue in Schulenburg, Texas began to join forces in the fall of 2025 to enhance the preservation and promotion of the history and legacy of polka, waltz, and folk music brought to Texas by Czech, German, and Polish immigrants.

Not all Texas dance halls are the same, and New Bielau was definitely a different animal from the herd. As the Dance Hall Show crew have traveled over the years, chronicling halls and their communities for their upcoming television series, a similar story emerged from folks throughout Colorado, Lavaca, and Fayette counties: a big dance hall that was as hot as the music that emanated from its stage, cooled only by those syncopated ceiling fans that captured the attention of everyone who ever entered. It was more than a music hall, it was more than entertainment, it was a location where so many lives truly began through chance meetings, planned reunions, holiday adventures, and musical mysticism that untied generations for nearly 100 years.

The Randolph Recreation Center located at 653 E. Pearl St., Building D, will host a 42 Domino Tournament on Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30. Friday registration is 5:30-6:45 p.m. with play at 7 p.m. $30 a team Friday. Saturday registration begins at 8:30-9:45 a.m. with play at 10 a.m. $50 a team. Proceeds will benefit the Family Crisis Center. For information go to www.N42pa.org or call (979) 966-3514.