These recollections were dictated by Mayme Dvorak Borak of New Prague in 1980 and originally shared in the collection “As I Remember Scott County”
Chaska Sodality band around 1920. Photo from the SCHS Collections.
I was a freshman in high school in 1919 when I was asked to play the piano with a seven piece band by the name of Borak and Boudin. It was the best modern and old time band around New Prague. We would rehearse at the Frank Borak house once a week. Then we were hired two or three times a week to play for wedding dances. K.C. dances and Fireman’s dances- as far away as the Iowa border.
It really wasn’t much fun to travel 64 years ago in summer or winter. The roads were narrow and when it rained it was very muddy because there was no gravel or blacktop at that time. In winter we would travel with horses and a sleigh which had hay in it for us to sit on to keep warm. Many times, if it was stormy, the horses went into the ditch and topped over the sled and all the instruments were scattered on the field. It took us many hours to get home. I would sleep maybe two to three hours and then go to school.
In 1926 we got uniforms, and I believe I was the first woman to wear slacks. We has tan slacks and brown corduroy jackets.
At some dance halls they had very poor pianos. St. Patrick had a small piano and I had to chew gum to past the black key on in order to play it. Then at St. Thomas, they had an organ which I had to pump with my feet all night to keep up with the band.
I played with different bands for over twenty years and enjoyed every bit of it.