Any fears the Cedar Chamber of Commerce members had about holding the Polka Fest on the opening weekend of the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City have been put to rest.

According to chamber president Dan Brzezinski, the Polka Fest brought in about 6,000 people during its four-day run.

Two trumpeters

“It was one of our better years. We had a lot of people here on Friday and Saturday. We might have been down a little on Sunday with our neighboring community’s chicken dinner,” he said, referring to the St. Mary Church Summer Festival and Chicken Dinner.

On Friday and Saturday nights, cars stretched north along County Road 651 to the Cedar Rustic Inn Restaurant. Brzezinski said this year, chamber members made more parking available closer to the tennis courts. “We wanted people to park as close as they can without overwhelming the streets,” he said.

Polka Fest bands came from as far away as Pittsburgh and Florida.

“We have plenty of bands wanting to come and play,” Brzezinski said. Larry Bruckner is responsible for booking the bands, and the chamber tries to rotate new bands in while bringing back old favorites.

There were no significant problems at Polka Fest this year, according to Brzezinski.