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Berwyn, IL —
Although the proposed Chicagoland Czech American Community Center is still just an idea, its supporters already believe it will one day be both a link to Berwyn's celebrated Czech-American legacy and a way to bridge the gap to the recent wave of Latino families that now make up the majority of the city’s population.
A bevy of state, local and even Czech officials all showed their broad-based support for the project during the center's first fundraiser, an Ides of March concert at Sokol Tabor last week.
For Dana Hunatova, consulate general for the Czech Republic in Chicago, the center is not only an opportunity to showcase the accomplishments of Czechs and Bohemians who emigrated to Chicagoland, it's also a way to revive business relations between the Berwyn area and the Czech Republic.
One of the proposed center's many focuses is a business center that aims to bring Czech businesses and products back to Berwyn, where Cermak Road was once dubbed “Bohemian Wall Street” for its large concentration of Czech-owned banks.
Hunatova also pointed out that the Czechs are the largest known ethnic group in Illinois without their own community center.
“There is a real need for such a center because there are many Czechs in the area who have been here since the 19th century and they don't have one place where they can get together and celebrate their culture,” she said. “The idea is really to build a center where every Czech can go and meet people and pursue his interests.”
Theodore Polashek, Berwyn's Sixth Ward alderman and president of center's board of directors, hopes the project will house 13 core services, including a museum, a library, a newsletter magazine publishing center, a theater, a TV and radio production studio and an English language learning program.
Although Berwyn is no longer predominantly eastern European, the older Czech population still exists and must integrate with its new Hispanic neighbors.
State Sen. Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero, who is of Mexican descent, is one of the center’s biggest supporters because she said she thinks it can help bridge that gap.
“We’re in a community where we really need to educate people on the similarities between our cultures,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez noted that although Czech will be written above the doors, everyone will be able to benefit from myriad proposed services the center would offer. Realizing common needs and dreams would help unite the community, Hernandez said.
Although the proposed Chicagoland Czech American Community Center is still just an idea, its supporters already believe it will one day be both a link to Berwyn's celebrated Czech-American legacy and a way to bridge the gap to the recent wave of Latino families that now make up the majority of the city’s population.
A bevy of state, local and even Czech officials all showed their broad-based support for the project during the center's first fundraiser, an Ides of March concert at Sokol Tabor last week.
For Dana Hunatova, consulate general for the Czech Republic in Chicago, the center is not only an opportunity to showcase the accomplishments of Czechs and Bohemians who emigrated to Chicagoland, it's also a way to revive business relations between the Berwyn area and the Czech Republic.
One of the proposed center's many focuses is a business center that aims to bring Czech businesses and products back to Berwyn, where Cermak Road was once dubbed “Bohemian Wall Street” for its large concentration of Czech-owned banks.
Hunatova also pointed out that the Czechs are the largest known ethnic group in Illinois without their own community center.
“There is a real need for such a center because there are many Czechs in the area who have been here since the 19th century and they don't have one place where they can get together and celebrate their culture,” she said. “The idea is really to build a center where every Czech can go and meet people and pursue his interests.”
Theodore Polashek, Berwyn's Sixth Ward alderman and president of center's board of directors, hopes the project will house 13 core services, including a museum, a library, a newsletter magazine publishing center, a theater, a TV and radio production studio and an English language learning program.
Although Berwyn is no longer predominantly eastern European, the older Czech population still exists and must integrate with its new Hispanic neighbors.
State Sen. Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero, who is of Mexican descent, is one of the center’s biggest supporters because she said she thinks it can help bridge that gap.
“We’re in a community where we really need to educate people on the similarities between our cultures,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez noted that although Czech will be written above the doors, everyone will be able to benefit from myriad proposed services the center would offer. Realizing common needs and dreams would help unite the community, Hernandez said.
“That's what brings communities together, and I want to be a part of making that happen,” she added.
Carrying on the banner
Although the legendary and local Ides of March is currently enjoying a revival of fame and fortune, it hasn't come without some sadness.
More than 47 years after the band’s core started playing in a Riverside Drive basement — then known as the Shondels — two of the band’s members died earlier this year.
John Larson, who joined in the band in 1969 before its first major label recording contract and smash hit “Vehicle,” died in September after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Ray Herr, who had been playing with the band for about two years, also died March 29 after losing his fight with esophageal cancer.
Despite the difficult losses, lead singer and band leader Jim Peterik said the band decided to continue to perform.
“We always feel that we have to hold the banner up for the guys that have passed,” Peterik said. “They wouldn't want us to stop.”
Most of the members of Ides of March are of Czech descent. The group played for free on Thursday for a benefit concert for the Chicagoland Czech American Community Center, and bandmates said they were happy to give back to the community for a good cause.
Now in his 60s (but still touting a tuft of purple hair), Peterik never imagined the band that started in his early teens would outlive some of its members.
“You don't think about your own mortality when you're 13. We were just making music and having fun, and that's still what we're doing,” he said. “We never thought we'd still be together all these years later.
We just took it one day at a time, and it's still that way.”
