GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - The smell of fresh pastry filled the kitchen at Trinity United Methodist Church this week as community members gathered to learn the art and history of making kolaches.

The pastry is a sweet Czech specialty that’s become a proud symbol of Nebraska’s Czech heritage.

The class was led by Pastor April Wegehaupt, who said she wanted to share both the technique and the story behind the treat.

“The brief history is that Kolache started in Czechoslovakia,” said Wegehaupt. “A daughter wanted to surprise her father who was coming in from the field hungry, so she made bread topped with fruit. When he came home, he loved it, and it caught on in the community.”

Wegehaupt said early kolaches were much larger, almost like a pizza, before evolving into the smaller pastries people recognize today.

“Depending on where you were from, they were made a little differently,” said Wegehaupt.

At Trinity United Methodist, participants worked with rising dough to prepare lemon, cherry, apple, blueberry, and poppy seed fillings.

Wegehaupt serves as Trinity’s senior pastor and she first hosted a kolache class in her home last year, and it was so popular that people asked her to bring it back.

“It’s really caught on in the community,” she said. “I’ve helped quite a few people learn the art of making kolache.”

The pastor hopes events like this help preserve Nebraska’s Czech roots while also building new connections through food.

Trinity United Methodist plans to continue hosting cultural food workshops to celebrate the diversity around Central Nebraska.