Photo by Deb Gau With the help of two young volunteers, polka musician Mike Schneider walked an audience of Tracy area families through the steps of the Chicken Dance at a Wednesday concert at the Tracy Library. The first step: putting your hands in the air, and making “chicken beak” motions

TRACY — Mike Schneider had lots of songs to share with the kids gathered around him — mostly polkas. And while some of the songs might have been new to his audience, others were classics.

Schneider called two boys up to the front of the group. “Have you ever done the Chicken Dance?” he asked them.

With the boys helping demonstrate the dance steps, Schneider had the audience flapping, clapping and twirling around while he played the tune on his accordion.

The performance was part of a special summer program, “Pint Size Polkas,” at the Tracy Public Library on Wednesday. An audience of around 40 kids and families came out to the library for music, dancing and even a magic trick or two.

Schneider, a resident of Clinton, Wisconsin, is a nationally known accordion yer and polka musician. Since 2008, he’s also been bringing polka music to younger audiences through the Pint Size Polka program. Schneider’s visit to Tracy was funded with the help of Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

“We were originally going to have this program last year,” said Tracy librarian Valerie Quist. But like many things in 2020, the concert ended up getting put on hold due to COVID-19.

Although the Tracy library has been able to stay open since last summer, participation in community programs did take a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, Quist said.

“We had probably about half the participation for summer reading last year,” she said.

And while it was good that the library was able to still provide people with important community services and entertainment during the pandemic, Quist said they were limited in the kinds of programs and events they could hold. Now, with restrictions on indoor gatherings lifted, lots of community members were coming back, and the library was able to hold events like the polka concert.

“We’re all just really happy to see each other,” Quist said. “It’s nice to see some of our families again.”

The downstairs community room where Schneider played for families was another part of the library that is finally starting to see more use, too. Quist said renovations to the lower level of the library were completed in the fall of 2019.

“We got to have a couple programs and events here, and then COVID hit,” she said. She’s looking forward to the public getting to use the space more now.

Quist said the Tracy library has been able to get back to holding regular book club meetings and story times for kids this summer. They’re also partnering with the Tracy Area School District’s accelerated reader program.

“It’s going really well,” Quist said of the response to community programs this year. “We probably have close to 80 kids signed up for summer reading.”