Captain Bill travels to Milwaukee’s German Fest, the original Haus Party!
2010 German Fest in Milwaukee is now over but the memories will be everlasting! As we did last year, DANK had a Public Relations Booth on the midway, next to the main entrance. It proved to be a popular place with all kinds of folks inquiring as to what DANK does. We also had lots of folks sign up for our very popular DANK VISA card and for membership for which we awarded a DANK T-Shirt or Tote Bag.
DANK German Fest Booth Staff: Rein, Stephen, Darlene, Amelia, Bill, Donna, Mathias (not shown: Kathy)
President Bill Fuchs, wife Darlene and son Stephen had lots of help this year with National VP Donna Lippert and husband Reinhard helping them from Thursday thru Sunday. Also helping over the weekend where Office Manager Amelia Cotter and past DANK Intern Mathias Knobloch, along with member Kathy Wolf.
Stephen, Amelia & Mathias
This year the fest celebrated its 30th anniversary and it was only fitting that founding member, past DANK Milwaukee President Walter Geissler, along with his wife, attended the many celebrations at the fest with National President Fuchs. Mr. Geissler was also declared honorary Bürgermeister for the Festival. Thirty years ago, at the 20th Anniversary of the Milwaukee DANK chapter, Walter Geissler was encouraged by then Milwaukee mayor, Henry W. Maier, to start a German Fest in Milwaukee since there was none at the time. President Geissler was able to have 14 other organizations join DANK in a team effort to put on German Fest the following year and it was an instant success. The rest is history.
VP Donna Lippert, Walter Geissler, Mrs. Geissler, Pres. Fuchs
This year’s festival started out with a bang. Cloudbursts in the morning gave way to some dry weather in the afternoon on Thursday and allowed set up for our PR tent, but the rain came back shortly after the opening at 5 PM. At 6:30 PM the heavens opened up with Regen, Donner und Blitzen, and it did not stop until Milwaukee recorded its second worst summer storm ever, with mudslides, sink holes and lots of flooding. Our tent was under a foot of water but thanks to Darlene and Stephen, who put all our merchandise and other stuff on the tables to keep out of the water, we did not have any damage. President Bill, who was at the Mader’s tent for dinner with Rein and Donna, because of the heavy rain and lightning, was unable to come to the rescue until an hour later, at which time the festival was closed for the night. He was then able to bring in the truck to have Darlene and Stephen climb onto the tailgate into safety. It continued to rain hard all night to produce a 7.5 inch record that evening. Even the Milwaukee airport was closed for a day due to the runways being under water.
Stephen & Donna before things got really bad... Notice the tent is already closed up before dinner
The next day and all other days continued to be better with 90 degree and very humid weather finally giving way to a picture perfect day on Sunday, which also drew a top crowd. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet and converse with current DANK members, make new friends and tell folks about our organization. As mentioned before, we also signed up a bunch of new members and many folks signed up for our DANK Credit card. Of course one cannot have an event like German Fest without having a lot of fun sharing our great German traditions, enjoying the great Music and Food and the many fun things that are just part of the greatest German Festival in the Midwest.
Sunday Crowd in front of DANK PR tent
Inside the Tent
Enjoy the pictures and I look forward to seeing many of you at one of the many German Festivals and Events around the country…..President Bill
Suckling pig getting roasted for Pres. Bill to enjoy
Spanferkel delivery to the Pres by Lake County Chapter ex Pres. Victor Kordas
DANK Culture Booth Exhibit staffed by Milwaukee chapter Member Theresia
Parade time on Saturday as DANK chapters marched together- shown here is the DANK Chicago North chapter
DANK Chicago South parading in front of PR tent
Amelia, Donna, Darlene and Mathias in Parade Trachten Garbe with Edwin Gunther, Milwaukee chapter President admiring at left
DANK Youth Ambassadors Andrea Dietz and Kathe Freiberger hitching a ride from Mike Adams in the parade
Little Jake and Big Jake of the Phenix band entertaining the crowd
This kid is just too cute to pass up
And he know just where to stand to get in the picture
Milwaukee chapter Pres. Edwin Gunther having a ball with the Jaegermeister Girls
Ed Sutter and Al Mueller getting a Jaeger Squeeze
Hard working Wiener Dog Bier Schlepper at the fest
Wiener Dachshund at the Festival Races
Scuba Dackel at the talent show
The End!
Find more like this: Captain Bill's Travels
Wow..wonderful photos, to all of you who missed this year’s fest, rememer there is one next year, we’d love to see you all around and if you can help us at the booth/tent, we’d love to show you the ropes!
Let it never be said I do not love DANK…breathing in that dirndl was not easy. I had a great time though!
….and a good time was had by all all of the rain. I hope everyone stuck around till Sunday, because that was the perfect day!