Yukon festival celebrates Czech culture in Oklahoma

YUKON, Okla. (AP) _ Velma Brandt will tell you there's no secret, really, to making kolaches (koh-LAH'-chees). <br/><br/>The 1969 Oklahoma Czech Queen says it's all in the dough. And the sugar

Sunday, October 3rd 2004, 4:34 pm

By: News On 6

YUKON, Okla. (AP) _ Velma Brandt will tell you there's no secret, really, to making kolaches (koh-LAH'-chees).

The 1969 Oklahoma Czech Queen says it's all in the dough. And the sugar and the butter.

Brandt and 70 others lent their expertise to the preparation of 36-thousand kolache pastries for Yukon's Czech Festival held in Yukon yesterday.

They started baking the fruit-filled pastries back in July.

Brandt comes from a long line of Czech confectioners. Her grandparents owned a bakery in Czechoslovakia before World War Two.

Her mother emigrated to the United States in 1932 after marrying an American farmer.

Besides a parade down Main Street in Yukon, a traditional Czech dance was held and participants got to feast on sausage sandwiches and all those kolaches.