Before anyone even suggests the word sacrilegious as a reaction to the headline on this column; I can counter with another word — Litomysl.

That name is based on a city of about 10,000 in the eastern part of Bohemia in what’s now the Czech Republic. For a group of Czech (Bohemian) immigrants who came from what was then Austria-Hungary over a century ago to Steele County, it’s the name they selected for their community in a new nation.

Litomysl is located to the east of Hope, northeast of Ellendale, and about eight miles southeast of Owatonna on 24th Avenue in Somerset Township.

This community consists of Holy Trinity Catholic Church, a parish house, St. Isidore’s Parochial School (preschool through fifth grade) and a farm place across 24th Avenue with one of the most distinctive barns in the region.

Each July for 38 years this tranquil country church has been the focus for a Polka Mass and what is considered to be the largest parish festival in south Minnesota. This year the festival was held on Sunday, July 26.

In a significant way, the word polka used to describe the type of music used for the religious services that Sunday is more synonymous with folk music. Thus, those melodies played and sung by the 18-member Litomyslaneous Polka Group are folk songs originating in Bohemia. However, the words are in English instead of Czech and have distinct religious themes. By the way, there’s absolutely no dancing ever involved with Polka Masses.

Now, there was a connection between St. Theodore‘s in Albert Lea and this annual event at Litomysl. This year the local musical participants were Gale Spinler, Jim Broberg, Deb Wessling, Jodi Blong and Ross Knutson.

Incidentally, the Litomysl musicians played and sang a dozen Czech (Bohemian) folk songs, a lively Polish tune, and a famous German composition (”The Happy Wanderer”) during their part of the church worship services.

After the Polka Mass there was a real variety of activities to make this a lively festival. These included several food vendors, an auction, a flea-less flea market, (please note the tricky word usage), a display of old gas engines, children’s and adult games and even live pony rides.

Music during the afternoon was furnished by several groups. One was the “Czech Lites” from the New Prague-Montgomery area. Another group had the name of “Men of the Fence Post..” In reality, this was a trio of teenagers who gave real meaning to the concept of garage band. A concertina or accordion player named Hans Hohrman from Owatonna added his musical talents. And a group that’s been a part of all the Litomysl Summer Festivals is the “Klecker Band.” The name is based on a parish family and is a Bohemian-style brass band. This group is reportedly over a century old and has obviously had quite a rotation of musicians through the years.

As I mentioned earlier, there’s a barn across the road from the church that certainly has a distinctive feature. On the roof is a huge depiction of an American flag.

This flag was created in the 1970s for the farm’s owner at that time, George Svatos. He now lives in Deer River. The farm’s present owners, Tedd and Rebecca Kniert, are perpetuating the special patriotic landmark.(The correct spelling is Tedd, and I have confirmed this with two separate sources.)

Before leaving Litomysl that Sunday, afternoon, I took a photo of this large flag on the barn’s roof.

In the next column we’ll be featuring the will of Thomas Henry Armstrong.

Ed Shannon’s column has been appearing in the Tribune every Friday since December 1984.