Century of Sefcik
Legendary dance hall to celebrate 100 years as a family owned business
Tom Sefick Hall in Seaton is 100 years old and the business is still in the same family. Today’s owners, Irene and Kenny Sulak, will celebrate the big milestone with a series of big parties featuring some of the top Czech bands in Texas. Kenny’s grandparents built the hall as a general store back in 1923. Nan Dickson
The late Alice Sulak, daughter of Sefcik Hall founders Tomas and Terezia Sefcik, is shown at the bar with her saxophone. Alice played sax and sang with Jerry Haisler and other Czech/country bands for decades. She died in June 2022. Courtesy photo
DAVID STONE | OUR TOWN TEMPLE
The big white two-story building in Seaton was built as a spot for farmers to gather after a hard day in the cotton fields. That was in 1923. Over the years, the children and grandchildren of those original patrons made Tom Sefcik Hall an eastern Bell County institution, and today, the aging dance hall continues to play a vital role in the Czech community.
Sefcik Hall is one of a handful of original dance halls still in existence today. Built as a general store with a small bar and upstairs concert hall, the aging legend was a place where Texas music was born and raised.
Asleep at the Wheel played there. So did Gary P. Nunn, Rusty Weir and Johnny Rodriguez, and Buckholts rocker David Zychek was a permanent fixture for 30 years.
“This place was built by my grandparents, and my mom owned and operated the hall for decades,” said current co-owner Kenny Sulak, who runs the family business along with his wife, Irene.
The Sulaks are planning to celebrate the hall’s centennial year in style with an April full of celebrations.
“We’ll be celebrating every Sunday in April except Easter Sunday,” Irene said. “We’ll have the Praha Brothers here on April 2, Jerry Haisler & The Melody Five on April 16, The Majek’s from Corpus Christi on April 23 and two bands on the 30th — the Ennis Czech Boys and The Vaneks.”
“These will be special dances promoting Czech heritage,” Kenny said. “The 16th will be the big celebration. State Rep. Hugh Shine will be here to recognize the milestone. We’re going to have food trucks at all the events, and on April 16 we will have free sausage wraps and cake.”
All five bands coming to celebrate Sefcik’s birthday are extremely popular. Jerry Haisler is a Central Texas legend, and The Majeks are originally from Cameron.
Shine isn’t the only one who plans to recognize the Sefcik Hall milestone.
“We are going to be recognized by the Texas Czech Heritage Society in LaGrange on March 25,” Irene said. “We will be honored with a Texans of Czech Ancestry recognition for promoting Czech music and dances for a century.”
Sefcik Hall is one of very few businesses to be owned and operated by the same family for 100 years.
Tomas and Terezia Sefcik — she went by Tracy — were farmers in the predominantly Czech community of Seaton, a tiny town about 8 miles east of Temple, in 1923. The community consisted of a church, school, cotton gin and a blacksmith shop, and the Sefcik’s decided a general store was needed.
The big building that Tom built sold lumber, hardware, basic food items and clothes. But, Seaton couldn’t be all work and no play, so the Sefciks soon added a dance hall upstairs and a community bar on the ground floor.
Sefcik Hall was a community gathering place. Baseball games were held in the “yard” to the northwest of the hall, Irene said. “Baseball was a regular weekend event along with dances,” she said. “After World War II, the community league baseball was big. Local towns had their own teams consisting mainly of WW2 veterans.”
Over the year’s Tom Sefcik Hall would host dances, weddings, parties, concerts and even rock ’n’ roll shows, but it always primarily served as a home for Czech bands and the polka and country music they played.
One of the first bands to play at the new venue was Adela & The Music Masters. Adela, an accordion player, was one of two Sefcik children. They played Tom Sefcik and other nearby halls, and even ventured to National Hall all the way over in Cameron in 1943.
One of The Music Masters was Adela’s sister, Alice who first played drums but later made the switch to saxophone. Many Central Texans may remember Alice — she ran Sefcik Hall for decades and died June 20 of this year.
After Alice became too frail to run the show, her son Kenny and Irene took over.
“If it wasn’t for Mom, Sefcik Hall would have closed years ago,” Kenny said. “This dance hall and her music is what she knew — this was her life.”
Alice began booking bands at Sefcik Hall when she was 14, plus she kept up with school work and farm chores. After Tom and Terezia passed, she decided to keep the Hall open. It became a Bell County landmark and one of the most famous dance halls in Texas.
For years, the Sefcik Hall bar has been open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and there were upstairs dances with live music on Sunday afternoons. Eventually, the days Sefcik is open may expand.
“Right now, Irene and I both work so we don’t have the time to devote to the business full time,” Kenny said. “But I plan on retiring in a couple of years, and this is my retirement plan.”
“There’s a lot of work we need to do, and I’d like to fix it up a bit and add a limited kitchen,” he said. “Someday I’d like to bring the big names back to Seaton.”
Irene said the hall has become a popular spot for weddings and wedding parties.
“The price for renting a wedding venue in Central Texas has skyrocketed in recent years,” she said. “A lot of folks are getting married here. We keep the cost low, and they can get married and have their reception in one place. We’ve become a popular place to tie the knot.”
“People are used to Sefcik being open every weekend,” Kenny added. “If we have to close for a weekend, the customers ask: ‘Where are we going to go?’”
SEFCIK HALL’S 100 YEARS OF POLKA CELEBRATIONS
SUNDAY, APRIL 2: The Praha Brothers from 3 to 7 p.m. Food truck on site.
GOOD FRIDAY, APRIL 7: Music by Jerry Haisler, Billy Pitts & Brandi Clark. 8-11 p.m.
SUNDAY, APRIL 16: Jerry Haisler & The Melody Five at 6 p.m. Free sausage wraps and cake.
SUNDAY, APRIL 23: The Majeks from Corpus Christi, 2 to 6 p.m. A food truck will be parked out front.
SUNDAY, APRIL 30: Two extremely popular bands: The Ennis Czech Boys and The Vaneks. Music from 2 to 7 p.m. and a food truck will be on the premises.
Did you like this story?
I hope you are enjoying my offerings this week. I want to express my appreciation to the many readers who have used the “tip jar” button to help support community journalism. Thank you. If you value my work, please show your support:
