Visiting Czech royalty from Minnesota celebrate after the Cabbage Roll contest May 20, 2023, in front of Sykora Bakery during Houby Days in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (photo/Cindy Hadish)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Organizers couldn’t have asked for more picture-perfect weather for the 45th annual Houby Days celebration.

The festival, featuring live music, food, vendors and more, started Friday, May 19, and continued with a parade Saturday, May 20, through Czech Village in Cedar Rapids. The night ended with a Balloon Glow next to the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library.

With sunny skies and temperatures in the low-70s, Saturday’s weather was a contrast with past Houby Days, when it literally rained on the parade.

Houby Days — houby is the Czech word for mushrooms — continues from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 21, in Czech Village.

See schedule of events

The Czech Village Association, which sponsors the event, sold morel mushrooms and a contest for the sponge-like delicacies drew entries for smallest, largest and best display of morels.

Another contest pitted contestants in three age groups to see who could eat kolaches — a popular Czech pastry — the fastest, while contestants in the “Cabbage Roll” used brooms to push cabbage through and over obstacles in the street in front of Sykora Bakery.

See photos from Houby Days 2022 and more from this year’s celebration, below: