Fans strive to keep polka hoppin’

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Chris Lohman, 31, and his wife Leanne, 35, were among the mostly older dancers who took to the asphalt-tile dance floor between the bar and a row of small tables. “I love it because it’s really a thing from the past,” said Chris Lohman.

Haselow, of the polka association, said attendance at their annual convention has doubled over the last 10 years. They get 800 to 1,000 polka dancers.

The association represents the Polish style polka and has about 1,000 members, which has also doubled over the last decade with more young people getting interested, she said. Polish style, one of the more popular kinds along with Slovenian or Cleveland style, is a lively hop-step-step-step dance.

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“I think we are pulling them in because it’s a nice atmosphere,” Haselow said. “It’s a fun atmosphere.”

Zalokar said the majority of his listeners to 247Polkaheaven.com are older than 50, but more young people are listening, especially to the newer music, called Extreme Push.

Over the last decade, some polka bands have incorporated rock ’n’ roll and country, and brought in guitars and keyboards. He said there is also more singing, especially by women.

Fifteen-time Grammy winner Jimmy Sturr is also modernizing his music. His two most recent CDs — “Rock N Polka” and “Shake Rattle and” Polka — feature rock ’n’ roll songs made into polkas.

He’s also involved in Polkapalooza, which has toured the country for nine years.

Organizer Gus Kosior said some areas of the country have stronger interest than others in the festival, such as the Midwest, Texas and East Coast, but overall the crowds have increased over the last three to four years.

Kosior, vice president of United Polka Artists Inc., based in Florida, N.Y., believes that polka is “one hit song” away from being in the mainstream.

“People are starting to take notice but it’s taking some time so to speak,” he said.

In Wisconsin, where polka is the official state dance, the Wisconsin Polka Boosters Inc. teaches the polka in elementary schools. In October, they tried to set a world record at Cottage Grove Elementary School near Madison when they taught 402 students how to polka.

Club president John Pinter doesn’t know yet if the attempt was successful.

“The only way to get it going is to get the people to dance,” Pinter said. “My generation, we were so busy having fun doing the polka all over the place we didn’t teach our kids to polka dance.”

Altenburg said he’s afraid that if the new owners of his 25-year-old bar don’t keep it as is, it will hurt the polka scene in Milwaukee. Until then, he and his concertinas will continue to greet polka lovers from all over the world.

“Polka is happiness,” he said.

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