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The Czech Village Association with Czech Heritage Foundation presents the 46th Annual “Houby” Day Festival Parade on Saturday, May 18, 2024. Parade organizers are interested in participants expressing the spirit of their heritage and encourage family walking units, schools, military, youth groups, bands, and decorated floats. Please help spread the news to other groups by sharing this with them.

The day begins with staging the floats on the East side of the River along the East Side of 2nd Street SE starting at the corner of 16th Ave. S.E. You may begin staging at 8:30 AM. There will be a flag raising at the Kosek Band Stand by Scouts & the American Legion to start the day with the Czech Plus Band. The parade gets underway at 10:00 AM. The parade will cross over the “Bridge of Lions” and continue through Czech Village to C St. S.W.

This year’s Grand Marshal is no other than Hannah Stuelke – University of Iowa Athletics, Iowa woman’s basketball player. She will be joined by our own Mayor of Cedar Rapids, Tiffany O'Donnell. The Houby Day Celebration will be dedicated to Mary Kay McGrath for all her dedication and love for Czech Village. Please come support your community!

Why we celebrate

The Houby Days Festival is an annual event in Historic Czech Village. Houby (pronounced hoo-bee) is the Czech word for mushrooms. Hunting them is a major activity of the Czechs and Slovaks and they gather them by the basket full. There are many varieties that are eaten and as the Czech’s are fond of saying, “All mushrooms are edible, at least once!” They are gathered from early in the spring until late in the fall and the woods are always full of mushroom pickers. It is a family activity, so children usually know by the time they are 10 years old which mushrooms to pick and which mushrooms not to touch. On a beautiful summer day, the woods will be full of families, walking, talking and gathering mushrooms.

Here in Cedar Rapids, we celebrate the tradition and all that it means to the Czech and Slovak. Houby are not only a source of food but they are also a fun family activity. At our Houby festival, we are also striving to bring a fun family day, filled with food, music, games, activities and Czech-Slovak heritage.