The Year in Review 1998
Best of the season once again to
all friends and past members of the group! Our busy Schuhplattler
season started with Heimatabend ’98.
Highlights of the evening included the Irish Schuhplattler version
of Lord of the Dance, (renamed Lord of the
Plattler), the men’s premier cow bell performance, and excellent
dance music by Premium Akkord.
On September 13th, we held our annual barbecue at Rainer
& Anne Hartl’s Alpine Farm.
As usual, there was great food, cold beer and good times. Several
past members joined in the celebrations.
This past summer, several group members participated in a parade
celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the United
Nations.
For the Oktoberfest season, we performed at the German
Canadian Cultural Centre [Edmonton], Evansburg,
Forest Heights School, Rideau
Park School, Wetaskiwin [Elks
Lodge and Peace River Lodge], and the luxurious Jasper
Park Lodge as our finale.
Our season ended with the ladies (plus Frank!) playing the cow bells
at the German Club Christmas concert.
Thanks to Loretta for writing new bell music!
Group Membership
We’ve had a few members leave this
past year. Marion
Fritz has decided to hang up her Dirndl after 15+ years of
dedication to the group. Thanks for all your hard work, Marion!.
Ralph Garneau
(our accordionist) is on leave for medical reasons.
Marvin Schaaf returned in January after recovering from his basketball
knee injury (Schuhplattling, especially hopping and stomping, is
recommended by 9 out of 10 Bavarian doctors as an excellent form
of knee therapy). Joe
Niederleitner, a past member and accordion player,
is returning to give the group live music once again! Joe has attended
several practices in November.
Our present membership includes: Brandi
Day, Jason
Edwards, Frank and Loretta Friesacher,
Ronny Fritz, André
and Jessica
Hüllstrung, Bernd Kallenbach,
Sylvia Kiel
[a.k.a. Special K], James
and Karin
Konkin, Marta Laube,
George Lauf,
Marvin Schaaf, Melissa Scheuerer,
Russell Schmidt, Eric
Seneka and Sylvia
Unterieser [a.k.a. Elmo].
Frank apologizes profusely for the negligent omission of Marta
Laube‘s name last year in the membership list. Bernd is completely
innocent of this crime, and Frank will be slapped for his misdeeds!
Special Events
Jessica
Houle and André
Hüllstrung were married on July 25th, 1998. After the ceremony,
the pair sawed a log in half on the church steps, their first act
of cooperation as man and wife. The Schuhplattlers performed at
the reception, as did a French Canadian group that Jessica also
belongs to. One of our members, Sylvia
Kiel, caught the bouquet, and was already eyeing a young
man that evening. All the best to André and Jessica!
Other members took active steps to avert the decline in female group
members. Marvin Schaaf and his wife Janina
had a baby girl, Melina, on July 30th. James
and Karin Konkin also had a girl, Stephanie Nicole, on October 21st. Both
infants are expected to be performing within the next year. Congratulations
to our young parents.
That’s it for another year. Keep in touch; each one of you remains
a part of this group, no matter how long you’ve been away. Until
this time next year, tschüss and keep schuhplattling!
