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The National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum in Euclid, Ohio, United States. It traces the history of the Cleveland-style polka, from its Slovenian roots from the 19th century, through American factory and mining towns where it absorbed jazz and country expressions, to the post-war years when top ten polka hits got the nation on the dance floor.
The Polka Hall of Fame holds an annual awards show on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, during the three-day Thanksgiving Polka Weekend at the Holiday Inn Cleveland South in Independence, Ohio. The show awards local and national polka groups and talents. [1]
| Inductee | 'Year Inducted |
| Bass, Kenny | |
| Bright, Roger | |
| Dolgan, Cecilia | |
| Fedorchak, Joe | |
| Haller, Hank | |
| Avsenik, Slavko | |
| Hoyer, Matt | |
| Hrovat, LynnMarie | |
| Meisner, Verne | |
| Miskulin, Joey | |
| Ostanek, Walter | |
| Pecon, Johnny | |
| Trebar, Lou | |
| Vadnal, Johnny | |
| Władysław Daniłowski (Walter Dana) | |
The museum is located in the historic old city hall of Euclid, Ohio. The building was renovated in 2000.
Cleveland, officially the City of Cleveland, is a major city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. It is located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. maritime border with Canada and approximately 60 miles west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania state border.
The polka is originally a Czech dance and genre of dance music familiar throughout all of Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the nineteenth century in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. The polka remains a popular folk music genre in many European and American countries, and is performed by many folk artists.
Frank John "Frankie" Yankovic was an American accordion player and polka musician. Known as "America's Polka King," Yankovic was considered the premier artist to play in the Slovenian style during his long career. He was not related to fellow accordionist "Weird Al" Yankovic, although the two collaborated.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the artists, producers, engineers, and other notable figures who have influenced its development.
Euclid is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is an inner ring suburb of Cleveland. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 48,920. In 2009, Euclid celebrated its bicentennial.
Euclid Avenue is a major street in Cleveland, Ohio. It runs northeasterly from Public Square in Downtown Cleveland, through the cities of East Cleveland, Euclid and Wickliffe, to the suburb of Willoughby as a part of U.S. Route 20 and U.S. Route 6. The street passes Playhouse Square, University Circle, Cleveland State University, the Cleveland Clinic, Severance Hall, Case Western Reserve University’s Maltz Performing Arts Center, Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The HealthLine bus rapid transit line runs in designated bus lanes in the median of Euclid Avenue from Public Square to Louis Stokes Station at Windermere in East Cleveland.
Ladislav John "Walter" Ostanek, CM is a Canadian musician. He is known as "Canada's Polka King." He has received twenty-one nominations for Grammy Awards and won three.
The Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) is a historical society in Cleveland, Ohio. The society operates the Cleveland History Center, a collection of museums in University Circle.
Ambrose Swasey was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, manager, astronomer, and philanthropist. With Worcester R. Warner he co-founded the Warner & Swasey Company.
Collinwood is a historical area on the Northeast Side of Cleveland, Ohio. Originally a village in Euclid Township, it was annexed by the city in 1910. Collinwood grew around the rail yards of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway and is divided by these same tracks into the neighborhoods of North Shore Collinwood and Collinwood–Nottingham. Collinwood was identified as one of America's Best Secret Neighborhoods by Travel + Leisure in 2008.
Charles "Big Chuck" Schodowski and "Lil' John" Rinaldi – together commonly known as Big Chuck and Lil' John – are a duo of entertainers who served as late-night horror hosts of The Big Chuck and Lil' John Show on television station WJW in Cleveland, Ohio from 1979 to 2007. In addition to hosting a movie with a live audience, they also performed original sketch comedy routines. At the end of each sketch was a very distinctive laugh voiced by comedian/actor Jay Lawrence, who was a disc jockey for KYW radio in Cleveland during the early 1960s.
Howard Alan "Howie" Chizek was an American radio personality, former public address announcer, and philanthropist.
The Mike Schneider Polka Band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a Slovenian-style polka group that performs at approximately 100 events annually in Wisconsin and throughout the United States. Founded in 1996 by Mike Schneider, the band is a four-time award winner and 16-time nominee from such organizations as the National Cleveland Style Polka Hall of Fame, the Wisconsin Polka Boosters, the Wisconsin Polka Hall of Fame, the Wisconsin Polka Music Awards, and the Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI).
Polka is a music and dance style that originated in Europe in the 1830s and came to American society when people immigrated from Eastern Europe. A fast style in 2/4 time, and often associated with the pre–World War II era, polka remains a dynamic "niche" music in America.
Louis Bashell was an American polka musician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was known for playing the Slovenian-style polka. He was nicknamed "Milwaukee's polka king".
LaVerne Donald "Verne" Meisner was an American polka musician born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and raised in Whitewater, Wisconsin. He was inducted into five halls of fame, including the International Polka Association Hall of Fame as a "Living Legend" in 1989. He is best known for the songs "Memories of Vienna" and "El Rio Drive."
Donald George Webster was a Canadian-born television host, weather forecaster, and station manager who is best known as the host of the nationally syndicated music program Upbeat and the longtime weatherman for Cleveland, Ohio ABC affiliate WEWS-TV 5.
James Malone is a radio personality and stand-up comedian based in Cleveland, Ohio, currently hosting a weekly show heard on iHeart Cleveland sister stations WMJI 105.7 and WARF 1350.
The Chardon Polka Band is an American, Ohio-based, Cleveland-Style polka band. It was started by Jake Kouwe in 2003 when he recruited four other teenagers to form a polka band at Chardon High School, and the group was originally called "The Chardon High School Polka Band" and included an accordion, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, electric guitar, and tuba. The group got their start in the school's music room and played at local senior centers and nursing homes in the Chardon area. Kouwe cites Weird Al Yankovic as his inspiration for playing the accordion as he started lessons on the accordion after seeing Yankovic in a VH1 special. The popular satirist remains a role model for The Chardon Polka Band. The band had slowly gained notoriety among Polka fans and in the Cleveland music scene in general, but got mainstream attention when they were featured in a reality show named Polka Kings on Reelz in 2015, even though the show was quickly cancelled. The band currently plays over 200 shows a year and has grown to be one of the Cleveland music scene's most recognizable performers playing at a mixture of festivals, schools, nursing homes, and bars, but also tours nationally and headlines many of the nation's top folk festival and Oktoberfest celebrations, playing a mixture of original music, classic polkas, and covers of pop songs. The band was also one of the founding members of the Cleveland revival of Dyngus Day. The band has released ten full-length albums, all independently, four of which were nominated for a Polka Hall of Fame award for either the album or one or more songs.
The Zarja Singing Society is a choral group based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is dedicated to the education and support of Slovenian culture and tradition.
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