There is no such thing as a sad polka.

So, what's that got to do with anything? A lot! Two recent events reminded me of this -- the New Glarus Oktoberfest and Rebecca Ryan's stirring analysis of what it takes to attract young professionals (YPs she calls 'em) to Green County.

Since YPs don't give a hoot about polkas -- probably would never admit to liking 'em, you must think I'm off my rocker. OK, maybe so, but not because of my incongruous connection of YPs to polkas. So bear with me.

Here's the deal. Rebecca reminded us that Green County's residents comprise a combination of natives who grew up here, transplants who moved here for love or money in some combination, and boomerangers who grew up here and moved away, only to eventually return. Each group contributes to the culture and economy of this region. And each group views this region through different sets of lens. We boomerangers think we can see through both sets of lens.

Rebecca went on to remind us that Green County has many features that attract and retain people. These include access to outdoors and recreation, access to good education and the arts, regional attachment to Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison, and excellent medical facilities.

We probably come up a bit short on employment opportunities that attract and retain YPs. But with the planned expansion of Monroe Clinic we can further beef up that important sector of our local economy.

Why should we care about attracting YPs anyway? It has to do with economic stability and growth, and affording greater opportunities to our own young people as they mature, go through various colleges, professional, technical or trade schools, and decide where they eventually want to live. While we probably wouldn't want explosive growth like that of California, or even suburban Madison, we do want stable and rising property values and general economic prosperity along with a range of employment opportunities for our own young people should they choose to remain or return here. And we want to be an attractive region to transplants that, along with our natives, staff our schools, medical facilities and other private and public enterprises.

So it's sort of a chicken-and-egg deal. We need the enterprises to attract good people, and we need good people to staff the enterprises and do the work. The point is that local history, culture and traditions contribute significantly to the attractiveness of a region as a place to live -- it's our identity, who we are, and distinguishes our sense of place. And transplants can appreciate it as much, or even more sometimes, as we natives who take it for granted.

In his informative series of recent columns, Dan Wegmiller reminds us that migrants from the east settled Green County in the early 19th Century. My Aunt Rosa Waelti Gruenewald used to refer to local residents with English names as "Yankees." It wasn't until the mid to late 1800s that the Germans, Irish, Norwegians and Swiss settled here in greater numbers. It was the Swiss who transformed local agriculture from an unsustainable single crop system to the more stable and sustainable dairy farming and processing system of agriculture. And that culture has left its indelible mark on this region.

It is reflected not just in the dairy industry that is the anchor of our agricultural economy, but in our architecture, cuisine, music, customs and culture. The Monroe High School mascot is "The Cheesemakers," shortened by our creative sports reporters seeking snappy headlines to "The Cheese." We love the free advertising and publicity. It's who we are, for natives and transplants alike -- the land of cheese, beer, brats, landjaegers -- and polkas.

The polka is not exclusive to the Swiss. Each European ethnic group has its own style. It was Cleveland's charismatic Frankie Yankovic who popularized the Slovenian style polka and is doubtlessly the most recognized name in the polka world. And it was Roger Bright who performed with Yankovic, returned to New Glarus, and combined the Yankovic style with Swiss melodies.

We are fortunate to have Roger Bright's protégés and many of the talented musicians who accompanied him carrying on this tradition. The list includes the Zweifel Brothers, Mike and David Austin, Greg Anderson, Cliff Penniston, Gary Hendrickson, Bill Gempeler and Karl Gmur. And we should include Grant Kozera of Milwaukee and Steve Meisner of Whitewater among those who make frequent appearances in Green County. And we have our Swiss Singers, yodel clubs and talented artists such as Toni Blum Seitz. We have local accordionists such as Del Heins and Bill Neffenegger, and many others, past and present, including Rudy Burkhalter, Martha Bernet and Betty Vetterli, who have been so instrumental in defining Green County.

This corner of local culture needs to be preserved. On Saturday of the recent Oktoberfest I spent the afternoon in Puempel's Tavern listening to Grant Kozera, accompanied by Cliff Penniston and Karl Gmur. As the afternoon waned and I was about to leave, Karl hailed me, "Hey John, here's a guy you should meet." It was Bob Roth of Elgin, Ill. Bob had once performed with Yankovic and contributed to his latest biography. Bob is researching some missing links in Yankovic's history, including the lives of some of the talented, now aging, musicians who had accompanied Yankovic on his best-selling recordings.

It's good to know that someone is documenting the history of this part of American culture. It relates to our corner of the world and who we are. Also gratifying was seeing 8- and 10-year-old kids that afternoon, and Sunday in the big tent, dancing happily to that energizing music. No one told them "polkas are not cool." Had anyone dared to venture such nonsense, these happy kids would have paid them no heed -- the better part of youthful wisdom.

It's history, culture and traditions that add so much to the appeal of this region. Transplants and newcomers get caught up in it as much as we natives.

Cheese, beer, brats, landjaegers, music -- it's who we are. And don't forget the polkas.

After all, there's no such thing as a sad polka.

-- John J. Waelti is a native of Monroe Township. He is former Professor of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota; and Professor Emeritus, New Mexico State University. He can be reached at jjwaelti@tds.net.