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YANKOVIC, FRANKIE (1915-1998)

The event known as "Tony's Polka Party" was first organised on a modest scale by the popular radio host Tony Petkovsek in 1960 but later became the traditional annual gathering of fans of Slovene music on Thanksgiving Day in Cleveland.. The performers and the audience come from many states including California, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and, of course, from all over Ohio.

The first musicians and bands playing chiefly Slovene folk tunes remembered by the original immigrants appeared in the US almost simultaneously with the larger wave of Slovene immigration. Memories of some Slovene musicians playing mainly in Slovene taverns and at picnics are still preserved. The first gramophone records of Slovene music appeared shortly afterwards. Numerous Slovene melodies were arranged differently, "Americanized" and furnished with American sounding titles, but the original Slovene folk tune is still discernible.

'Tony's Polka Party' is important for the sake of preserving the Slovene musical heritage in the United States.

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