Minnesota Keeps Polka Alive, Four Generations Deep

Pete Mrozinski's family has played polka music for about 88 years, and in his town that now makes four generations. He plays today with his wife in Twin Cities Soundz, a band his grandfather's legacy helped set in motion.

"A lot of the polka music stuff is generational stuff, so it's grandparents who taught parents who teach kids," Mrozinski said. "You'll find a lot of the people in our dances grew up with polkas. They're still coming now."

How strong is the scene in 2026?

The Midwest Polka Association counts about 700 members and hosts roughly 10 events a year, including a July potluck picnic. Membership is not required to attend. "We encourage any and all people to come," Mrozinski said.

Danny Fabeck, the association's president since 2010, grew up playing in polka bands and returned to the music after marrying and having children. He rejoined through the association.

"I thought this is pretty cool, you know this is the music," Fabeck said. "But I didn't know anything about all the new bands that have come out. And so I started coming to the dances."

The nonprofit grew from the former United Polka Association about 25 years ago in Minneapolis. It focuses on Polish polka rather than German or Czech-Slovak styles because Polish sounds are rooted in members' families and in Northeast Minneapolis. Waves of Polish immigrants from Prussia settled the Twin Cities area, up to Duluth and down to Winona, in the late 19th century. German immigrants settled farther south and west, in cities such as New Ulm and Hutchinson.

What made New Ulm the 'Polka Capital of the Nation'?

Founded in 1854, New Ulm earned that nickname by the mid-20th century. The city hosted 18 professional bands with local roots, and radio station KNUJ — the "Polka Station of the Nation" — began broadcasting polka across southern Minnesota in 1949. From 1953 to 1971, the annual July festival Polka Days drew tens of thousands of visitors.

The Six Fat Dutchmen, founded by Harold Loeffelmacher in 1932, became one of the country's most popular polka groups in the 1950s, recording approximately 800 songs for RCA Victor. The Whoopee John Band, led by concertina player John "Whoopee John" Wilfahrt, began releasing music commercially in the 1920s and pioneered the German-American "Dutchman" style; Wilfahrt recorded nearly 1,000 songs before his 1976 induction into the International Polka Association's Hall of Fame.

After World War II, nearly 100 ballrooms operated across Minnesota. Mrozinski estimated that before the internet, a typical Twin Cities weekend saw about four dance halls booming with hundreds of dancers. New Ulm's George's Ballroom, opened in 1947, hosted touring acts including Lawrence Welk, Glenn Miller and the Six Fat Dutchmen.

Who carries it forward?

At the John P. Muryzun Hall in Columbia Heights in September, about 30 people danced to Polish polka by The Natural Talent, a band from Pulaski, Wisconsin, built around founding member Adam Socha's first cousins.

"The main thing is paying it forward," Socha said. His two children now dance and sing at polka functions.

Bands court younger listeners by reinterpreting hits by Dolly Parton and Shania Twain, though most of the crowd remains baby boomers. New polka bands are fewer nationwide, and younger interest is scarcer, but the motivation persists.

"It's the music," Fabeck said. "It's in your soul."

"Our whole mission is to promote and preserve the heritage of Polish polkas," Mrozinski said. "Because it's dying out. It's a lot smaller." His daughter plays in the band. "So we're four generations deep in polka music in our town. We've played everywhere in this town and it's just important to keep it going."