Litomysl to celebrate summer festival

Holy Trinity Catholic Church of Litomysl will be showing off its country church pride at its 46th Annual Summer Festival on Sunday, July 30.  
The 140 families of the parish will host the event which is one of the largest summer parish festivals held in Minnesota each year. The country style festival draws people from a wide population in southeastern Minnesota.  
Litomysl is Czech for “wistful thoughts.” Holy Trinity Church dates back to 1878, when settlers in the Litomysl community built their first church.  
The Litomysl community is actually named after the original Litomysl, located about 100 miles east of Prague. In 1940-41 Czech settlers built the stone church where parishioners worship today.  It is one of the largest stone churches in the nation; members of the parish brought over 600 loads of rock from their fields to build it.
Czech traditions, from delightful pastries to polka music will be alive and well once again in Litomysl, located eight miles south of Owatonna.
A Polka Mass will kick off Litomysl Summer Festival activities at 10 a.m. in the air conditioned, handicapped accessible Holy Trinity Catholic Church. The Mass will have participants singing traditional hymns to the beat of polka music led by the Litomyslaneous Group.
Also participating in the Polka Mass will be the Owatonna Knights of Columbus #945’s Fourth Degree in full regalia.
Music will echo throughout the grounds on Sunday. Preceding the Mass, the Owatonna Knights of Columbus Choir will perform in the church. Hans Hohrman will entertain visitors with his accordion near the school building, while the “Dan Stursa Band” and “The Sand Creek Connection Band” from New Prague (featuring 14 year old concertina player, Colton Tupy) will entertain the crowd when they grace the stage north of the church. The Klecker Band, which has played at all of the past 45 Festivals, will delight listeners inside the church.
Beginning at 11 a.m., all outdoor activities begin with many food booths available to delight everyone’s appetite. Many games for the young and elderly will also be featured. Festival visitors can enjoy pork rib sandwiches, pork burgers, brats, hot dogs, walking tacos, root beer floats and other refreshments.
A shaved ham or turkey sandwich meal with potato salad, baked beans and a beverage will be served in the church basement from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pie and filled biscuits will also be on the menu.
The lines will be long for persons wishing to pick up some filled biscuits. The biscuits, coming in various flavors including prune, poppyseed and apricot, are a favorite of many. The biscuits go on sale eat 11 a.m. near the St. Isidore’s School building. 
Buchty, is a traditional Czech biscuit filled with prunes, apricots, or poppy seed.  The women make sweet yeast dough, roll it out, cut it into small squares and fill the squares with prune, poppy seed or apricot filling. The corners of the square of dough are lifted up kitty-corner and folded in the middle and dough is pinched together. The dough has four eyes on top with the filling peeping out: these eyes are called the four eyes of God. 
A silent auction will be staged in the school building. In addition, a used-a-bit sale will feature many bargains. A country store with garden produce will be located near the church.
Thousands of items have also been donated for the used-a-bit sale in the school and for the Silent Auction. The annual “Big Ticket” raffle, has 65 prizes (with a value of over $3,500), the first prize being $500. The drawing will be at 4 p.m.  
Persons of all ages are eager to wait their turn to partake in the many games they choose from plinko, bingo, spin the wheel, fish pond, dime toss and the ever popular root beer barrel game. 
As has been the case in years past, many local businesses and individuals have donated thousands of items to be used for prizes in the games.  
A tractor carrying a wagon will help people get to the Festival more quickly, when they park their cars on the roads surrounding Litomysl.
Litomysl is located 8 miles south of Owatonna on Co. Rd. 45 then 2 miles east on Co. Rd. 4 (SE 98th St); to 9946 24th Ave SE)
  or 5 miles north of Blooming Prairie on Hwy 218 to Bixby, then 4½ miles west on Co Rd 4 (SE 98th St) to 9946 24th Ave SE;
  or 6 miles south of Owatonna on Interstate 35 to the Hope exit #32, then left on Co. Rd. 4 to Co. Rd. 3, go 1/2 mile south, then 3 miles east on Co. Rd. 4 (98th St.) to 9946 24th Ave SE; 

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  or  from Ellendale east on Hwy 30 to Co. Rd. 45, then 5 miles north on Co. Rd. 45 to Co. Rd. 4 (SE 98th St), then 2 miles east to 9946 24th Ave SE.