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Nachrichten des Deutsch-Amerikanischer
Zentralverein zu Peoria
www.peoriagermans.net
January - March 2015
Affiliate News
2
Committee &
Event News
4
Membership 2015
Renewal Info
6
Issue 49
GACS Banquet info 8
Publicity and Media
News
9
Upcoming Events:
Seasons Greetings!
GACS Banquet, Sat. Jan. 10
In parts of Europe the Holiday Season does end until Three Kings Day on January 6th, the
Feast of Epiphany, which is the 12th day of Christmas!
Fasching Ball Sat., Feb. 7
Damenchor's Bockfest
Sun. Feb. 15
Newsletter
Sponsorship
For those receiving this
newsletter via snail mail,
the postage was
sponsored by the
Damenchor.
We hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to
2015. It is hard to believe that we are ready to start a new year!
2014 was another great year for the Peoria German American Society and its affiliates. Our
fests at Hickory Grove were very successful. in 2014 we began advertising with the folks at
WGLO 95.5 to attract a more diverse demographic than we were getting elsewhere. This
change paid off. We saw many new faces at our fests this year. Many of the newcomers
plan on coming back again! We also increased our use of Social Media.
Even with a change in our featured headliner, the Oktoberfest almost matched last year's
record numbers. The Das Bier Run is paying big dividends. Our Sunday crowd was the
biggest in recent memory. 2015 will mark the 20th Anniversary of the Oktoberfest and we are
planning to make it very special.
The Kristkindlmarkt lived up to its potential with two fantastic weekends of Christmas magic.
Great vendors, great food, great atmosphere, and great weather made for our most
successful year ever.
We could not have done all of our great events without the support of our members and all of
you who are not currently members volunteering hundreds of hours. We greatly appreciate
your efforts. Thank you!
Published four times a year.
To Submit Articles or to Change
Contact Information:
Jeff.Pulfer44444@gmail.com
or (309)444-4656
Editor: Jeff Pulfer
Please take note, it is that time of year to renew your memberships. Details of how to do this
can be found in this newsletter. We are looking forward to your continued involvement in our
organization.
- Jeff Pulfer
Editor
AFFILIATE NEWS
2015 GACS Officers
SVP Schuetzen Newst
Angie Blasek - President
We had a great year with good
performances in our Chicago (2d), Peoria
(1st) and St Louis (1st) matches and in our
Leagues.
Lauren Blasek - 1st Vice-President
Steve Dippel - 2nd Vice-President
Jeff Pulfer - Membership Secretary
Mat Hanley - Treasurer
League Results:
Luftgewehr / Air Rifle: Ross Baer 86.5, Paul Bishop 84.4, Bryan
Brown 78.5
Laurie Martin - Assistant Treasurer
Mary Dempster - Recording Secretary
LuPi / Air Pistol: Chris Knapp 91.6, Paul Bishop 90.9, Rich
Klockenga 89.3
2015 SVP Officers
President - Tommy Franken
Halbauflage / Half-supported Rifle: Ross Baer 99.2, Eva
Rushford 97.7, Jane Klockenga 96.6
1st Vice President - Nate Eisfelder
2d Vice President - Gary Emery
Armbrust / Crossbow: Ross Baer 4.8, Paul Bishop 4.3, Bryan
Brown 3.9
Treasurer - Mat Hanley,
Membership Secretary - Steve Dippel,
Bogen / Bow: Bryan Brown, 4.5, Ross Baer 4.3, Justin Howeler
3.9
Recording Secretary - Julie Brown
Pentathlon: Ross Baer 15, Paul Bishop 15, Justin Howeler 14
Standing Committee Representatives:
We also want to congratulate our new King and Queen, Terry
Beachler and Julie Brown, and Vogelkönig David Lee!
Lindenhof - Justin Howler
Special thanks to Ross Baer and his crew for construction of
the storage room at Hickory Grove Park, to Bryan Brown for
running the Archery League and to our Vorstand for keeping the
shooting tradition alive and well in Peoria! Vorstand:
Hauptmann Paul Bishop, Range Officers Dave Hale and Justin
Howeler, Treasurer Bryan Brown, Bar Julie Brown, Training
Ross Baer and Terry Beachler, Juniors Dick Barth,
Quartermaster Bob Eissler, Scoring Chris Knapp, Statistics
Bobby Franken, Sustenance Hans-Jürgen Wiegand.
Media - Steve Dippel
Hickory Grove - Bill Ross
2015 Airgun League Shooting begins January 8th and
continues on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Thursdays through the year.
New shooters are always welcome. Contact HPTM Paul
Bishop at 231-4620 with any questions.
Music and Culture - Gary Emery
2015 Damenchor Officers
President: Debbie Hedemann
1st Vice President: Carol Hedemann
2nd Vice President: Ingrid Ruscheinski
Membership Secretary: Ruth Sepich
Secretary: Carolyn Alaksiewicz
German Speaking Stammtisch
Nights to Begin in January!!
Schuss Heil!
The Music and Culture Committee will be hosting Stammtisch
Nights the second Friday of the Month at the Lindenhof. One
or more tables will be devoted to those who want to practice
and/or learn to speak more German. Please show up around
6pm. You will be on your own as to food and beverages.
Stammtisch is an informal group meeting held on a regular
basis, and also the usually large, often round table around
which the group meets. A Stammtisch is not a structured
meeting, but rather a friendly get-together.
- Paul Bishop, Hauptmann
SVP Member of the Year - Ross Baer
Congratulations to Ross Baer on being named SVP Member
of the Year! Ross did a fantastic job of rehabilitating the
former snow cone stand attached to the office into a storage
space for the shooters and archers at Hickory Grove as well
as being active in the club throughout the year.
-2-
2015 Harmonie Officers
Harmonie-Concordia
President: Bill Marriott
Harmonie had another successful year. We had a
great time and made some nice money at the Peoria
Jaycee International Beer Festival at Expo Gardens.
We are looking forward to this event again in 2015.
Our Spring Concert and the Return of Eddie Korosa in
April topped off a very busy month for us.
1st Vice President: Jeff Pulfer
We once again served breakfast after the Race for the
Cure in May. A nujmber of us ventured up to
Milwaukee to the National Sangerfest in June. A good
time was had by all.
Delegates to GACS:
2nd Vice President: John Katzke
Membership Secretary: Pete Bachfischer
Treasurer: Adam Gudat
Recording Secretary: Andy Sepich
Brent Caras
John Katzke
Norbert Zagas
Thanks to all of you who came out and enjoyed our
Breakfast in the Park on July 4th. We hope to see
more of you in 2015.
Matt Doling
Alternates: Jon Robison and Louie Mayer
In August we held our Bratfest, which is the biggest
fest held at Hickory Grove, in August. Our second
annual beer tasting was a real crowd pleaser along
with Eddie Korosa and his band. Least I forget
Harmonie works the kitchen at all of the German Fests
at Hickory Grove. That's the main reason our fest
food is so awesome!
Trustees:
Roger Martin and his helpers sold a record amount of
pretzels at the Oktoberfest. A number of other
Harmonie members worked the Heritage Tent, served
beer, and performed other tasks at this outstanding
end of Summer Event.
Lindenhof: Louie Mayer
Jack Fennel * 2015
Bill Saathoff * 2013
Dick Orth * 2014
* year of election
Committees:
Hickory Grove: Dennis Kalvy
Publicity and Media: TBD
Cultural Affairs: Dick Orth
Oktoberfest 2015
Matt Doling chaired our annual Fall Stag and Louie
Mayer organized a bus trip to the Bayern Stube in
Gibson City.
Of course we saved our best for last with two
weekends of Christmas magic with our 5th Annual
Kristkindlmarkt. This is the largest public event held at
the Lindenhof each year. Thanks to all of you helped
out and/or attended this year!
Planning for the 2015 Oktoberfest has begun. If
you are interested in planning this event please
contact Angie Blasek 693-2349 or Lauren Blasek
314-580-0597.
During the year we were sorry to lose a few of our
long time members. They will be missed.
We continued our music scholarship program to
Bradley University along with the help of Damenchor
and the Rathskellar Brummers. We also gave money
to the PJ Star Christmas Tree Fund and Central Illinois
Riding Therapy from our Service Fund.
We are in need of someone to take over as
co-chairman of the Heritage Tent. After serving in
this roll for a number of years, Al Hedeman, has
decided to step down. I'm sure he is more than
willing to mentor anyone who wants to take this
on.
Since this is the 20th year of this wonderful event
I'm sure we can find something for you to help us
with.
And all of this from a group that was suppose to not
have much left in the old gas tank a few years ago!
Prost!
- Jeff Pulfer
Jeff Pulfer
First Vice-President
-3-
COMMITTEE & EVENT NEWS
Fasching: The Carnival Season in Munich
Music and Culture Committee
We just finished a great Christmas Season of Singing at
Senior Homes in the Peoria area.
Jan. 6 is the music committee meeting to plan the coming
year’s program, etc.
Jan. 13 is the first Singing Practice of the new year. We
welcome all singers – new, old, former, whatever, just if you
like to sing. Sopranos will be especially in demand and
thus will be treated with the respect the y deserve
We are awaiting our song books from Evansville for the
District. Saengerfest in May.
We will also be working on songs for our Spring Concert at
the Lindenhof on April 11.
When other countries of the world celebrate “carnival“,
in Munich “Fasching“ is celebrated. “Fasching“ comes
from the medieval word “vaschnc“, in present-day
German “Fastnacht“ and relates to the fasting period,
which begins immediately after Fasching and is what
we know as Lent.
Al Hedeman
Past Director and current chairman of the Music and
Culture Committee
Fasching Ball - Trudy Smith
Carnival was originally a pagan festival, later it has
become associated with the catholic church and was
celebrated on the day before the beginning of Lent.
Nowadays the carnival season begins in midNovember with the coronation of a carnival prince and
a carnival princess and lasts about three months until
Ash Wednesday seven weeks before Easter. The most
Fasching events are held in the last four weeks.
Up until the beginning of the 19th century all Fasching
celebrations took place in the open air. It wasn’t until
1829 that the first “Fasching Ball“ took place, an artist’s
festival, soon to be followed by other artist’s festivals
and numerous masquerades and society and court
balls.
It is getting close to that time for the Fasching Ball.
The date will be Saturday, February 7th.
Yearbook—2014-2015
Doors open at 6pm, entertainment (West MacQueen
Street Band) starts at 7pm.
Admission is $8.00 per person to offset the cost of the
entertainment. Prizes for best costumes!!
The 2014-2015 Yearbooks are now available for pickup
at the Lindenhof.
Please bring a dish to pass. This is similar to the New
Year's Eve party and which has always had great
food.
Thanks to all of you who sponsored ads in the book this
year or found businesses to sponsor an ad. With out
your help we would not be able to do this.
I hope to see y'all and more members because this is
really a great party. Everyone always has a great
time.
We distribute 2000 copies throughout the year at
Oktoberfest, our fests at HG, and at the Lindenhof.
- Judy Slankard
-4-
to sell out of almost everything including the Peoria dining tour
books
5th Annual
Kristkindlmarkt
@ T heLindenhof
One final thank you, to the Harmonie Singers for allowing me
to serve one again as chairman of this wonderful Holiday
Event!
- Jeff Pulfer, Kristkindlmarkt Chairman
The 5th Annual Kristkindlmarkt was our most successful yet.
We had two outstanding weeks. The weather helped out a lot.
We also upped our advertising and exposure for this event. I
got to be on TV three times to promote the first weekend, plus
we were part of the Peoria and Peoria County's Small
Business Saturday campaign.
We also used a couple of e-mail blasts with Whofish and I
posted to as many Facebook pages as I though would make
sense. Our vendors also helped us out by promoting our event
to their customers at other events.
We also have some of the nicest vendors in the area
participating in our event. As one new vendor mentioned he
felt like he was among family. We are sorry announce that
Doug Lais, of Leatherhelm will no longer be able to participate
in this event due to his move out of state. We wish him and his
wife the best in their new adventure.
Bockfest is
Coming!
Hallo Folks, Damenchor is planning
a Bockfest for Sunday, February
15th at the Lindenhof!
Bockfest is typically a celebration of strong beers brewed in
the Spring for the Lenten Season. Strong beers were drunk
while fasting during this period for nurishment. Also, bock
beers were brewed for Christmas and other religious
festivals.
A number of the Kristkindlmarkt attendees come back year
after year just to try our wonderful Gluhwein and to get the
latest edition of our Kristkindlmarkt mug to add to their
collection. Thanks to Matt and Linda Doling for making batch
after batch of this wonderful nectar! My niece compared our
version to the one in Chicago and our's was deemed to be the
best!
Bock is a strong lager of German origin. Several substyles
exist, including maibock (helles bock, heller bock), a paler,
more hopped version generally made for consumption at
spring festivals; doppelbock (double bock), a stronger and
maltier version; and eisbock, a much stronger version made
by partially freezing the beer and removing the ice that forms.
We hope you all enjoyed the entertainment this year. Each
weekend was different. Thank you Al Hedeman for arranging
all of this again!
Originally a dark beer, a modern bock can range from light
copper to brown in colour. The style is very popular, with
many examples brewed internationally.
A special thank you to Bob Barker who did an outstanding job
of playing Santa as well as the numeous lovely ladies who
served as Mrs. Claus during the two weeks.
The style known now as bock was a dark, malty, lightly
hopped ale first brewed in the 14th century by German
brewers in the Hanseatic town of Einbeck.
My niece Rena Pulfer and new Damenchor member, Emily
Johnson, both did great jobs as our Kristkindl's. Rena was
even featured on the evening news the first weekend.
I'm not sure what the Damenchor has planned for this event
since the organizers have not provided me with any input for
this event.
Thanks to those of you who worked the kitchen, the pretzel
table, and the bar. Your efforts helped make this a true
German experience for our guests.
I'm not even sure if bock beer will be served since this could
also be a celebration of bockwurst. Of couse bockwurst was
originally eaten with bock beer, so I would only hope at least
one bock beer will be served at this event!
Also, thanks to those unsung heros who set up the hall both
weekends and set it back up on Sunday evenings.
Please contact Debbie Hedeman for details 444-8489.
Also, thanks to the hall decorating committee for making the
hall such a magical place for the event. And least I forget,
those brave volunteers, many who were not German club
members, who manned the Media Table for me. We managed
-5-
Membership Dues for 2015 are Payable Now!
$30 for primary membership dues. $15 for secondary membership dues.
Junior membership fees are only $10 per year.
Damenchor Members should send their checks to Ruth Sepich at 32
Oakridge Pt, Morton, IL 61550.
Harmonie Members should send their checks to Pete Bachfischer at 1357
Timber Oak Dr., Metamora, IL 61548.
SVP Members should send their checks to Steve Dippel at 101 Amsler St,
Bartonville, IL 61607.
You can also hand over your check at a membership meeting to one of the
officers above or if they are NOT there the affiliate treasurer or president.
For those of you who need an invoice for business purposes or for you
record keeping, I've included a GACS Membership Renewal form on the
next page which you can use. You only need to fill it out and return it with your check if your information
or interests have changed over the past year. You can also e-mail your changes directly to me if you do
not want to fill out a form.
I would not recommend writing one check to cover both your primary and secondary membership dues.
If you do, make sure you notify both affiliates as to what your check covers and make sure they
acknowledge that your dues have been paid. I normally write separate checks to each affiliate. For
Harmonie, I pay my dues on-line through CEFCU Bill Pay.
You can make one check to cover multiple memberships of a single affiliate. Just make sure you clearly
identify what the check covers in a separate note.
NOTE: I would encourage all members to renew by check. That way you will have a record of paying
your dues.
I would suggest NOT mailing your check to the Lindenhof. Mail can easily be misfiled. Checks sent to
the Lindenhof may also not be picked up in a timely manner since some of the officers can only make it
to the hall once a month or even if they are there, they forget to check for mail. I know I'm guilty of this
all of the time. Even if the respective mail folder is checked, the processing of your check may be
delayed by if not several days, several weeks, or even months.
DO NOT GIVE YOUR CHECK TO SOMEONE BESIDES THE APPROPRIATE AFFILIATE OFFICER AT
A FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER.
If your check has not been cashed within 60 days of sending it, please contact one of the folks above.
As a last resort you can contact me to follow-up.
If your affiliate provides membership cards you may want to ask them to send you a card to confirm you
are a member.
Jeff Pulfer
G.A.C.S Membership Secretary 2015
-6-
German American Central Society
Affiliate Membership Dues Renewal Form/Invoice
Name________________________________________________________________
Dues: $30 for Primary Membership - Additional $15 if joining a Secondary Club
Junior (18 and Under) Membership is $10 for the club you want to join.
Primary Membership: Damenchor _____, Harmonie _____ or Sport Verein _____
Secondary Membership: Damenchor _____, Harmonie _____ or Sport Verein _____
Make checks payable to Damenchor, Harmonie or Sport Verein. Cash is also accepted, but not recommended. Renewals
should be paid by March 1st of the renewal year. Separate form is required for each membership.
OPTIONAL: Please fill out the following if you would like to become
more involved with any of the activities below.
Would you be interested in being an active singer?
Do you play an instrument?
Yes _____ No ____
Yes _____ No ____
Are you be interested in (Sport Verien sponsored):
Soccer Program _____ Target Shooting _____ Golf League _____ Hiking ______ Running ______
Other activities you would like to participate in or help organize (check all that apply):
Picnics ___ Dances ___ Weekly dinners ____ German Fests___ Bike Rides ___
Bus Trips ___ Charity Events ____ Newsletter ___ Youth Activities ___ Cooking ___
Folk Dancing ___ Puppet Theatre ____ Car Cruis'ns ____ Club Craft Fairs ____
Public Relations/Community Involvement_________
List others: __________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Please fill out the following if you information has changed during the last year.
Address: _____________________________________________________________
City: _________________________________ State: _________ Zip: _____________
Phone: _________________________ E-mail: _______________________________
NOTE: E-mail address is required to receive weekly e-Newsletter, quarterly newsletter, and updates.
Birth Date: ___________Year (optional)_________
Signature: ________________________________________ Date: ____________
*************************************************************************************************************
To be filled out by an Affiliate Officer
Date Received: ____________Officer Signature or Initials: _______________________
-7-
You are cordially invited to the:
German-American Central Society
Appreciation Dinner - at the Lindenhof
Saturday, January 10, 2015
• The doors will open at 5:00 pm, Awards at 6:00 pm and
Dinner at 6:30 pm.
• Music and Dancing to follow!
• The cost of this year's dinner is $10.00 per person which will
include the dinner and 2 drink tickets.
• Please make checks out to German-American Central Society or
GACS.
•Please send all money to the Lindenhof c/o Angie Jungwirth to
7601 N. Harker Drive - Peoria, IL 61615 by Tuesday, January
6th. You may pay at the door if you have made a reservation.
•Any questions please contact Angie Blasek at 693-2349 or
gacsangie@aol.com
Please complete and return with your check. Thank you for your participation.
Name(s): ____________________________________________________________
_____ # of guests (including you)
$_____________ Total Amount Paid for dinner
From SVP's Annual
Member Banquet
L-R New Schützenkönig Terry Beachler,
out-going Schützenkönigin Judy
Slankard, New Schützenkönigin Julie
Brown and out-going Schützenkönig Al
Smith
-8-
weekend match the numbers of the first weekend, which
had more TV and radio coverage.
Publicity and Media News
2015 saw a number of improvements and expansion of our
marketing of our events.
•
We began paying for radio advertising for our events at
Hickory Grove, which brought new folks to our events
•
Eight foot bannners instead of five foot banners are now
used at the corner of Hickory Grove Rd and Rt 40 as well
as in front of Avanti's on Knoxville. These new signs
featured larger text to make it easier for folks to read.
•
Sharon Ferguson began creating a posting each week on
the Lindenhof Facebook page for our weekly dinners.
•
A new Facebook page for the Oktoberfest was created
by Angie Blasek, which not only easily passed the
number of folks who Liked the previous Oktoberfest
Facebook page, but also helped increase the number of
Likes for our other Facebook pages.
•
A new agreement with the Peoria Journal Star for our ads
allowed us to increase the size of our weekly Lindenhof
ad for the same price each week as we were paying for
the previous ad size.. By doing so we were able to
promote in this additional space some of our smaller
events as well as increase the number of times our larger
fests appeared in the newspaper.
•
We paid for event e-mail blasts with Whofish. Whofish is
an internet site to post your events to. They are
nationwide. Whofish charges us $10 per 1000 of their
contacts to send an e-mail to. This allowed us to reach
additional folks via the internet that we were not reaching
through our own e-mail distribution list. For example, for
$100 we reached 10,000 Peoria folks for the second
weekend of the Kristkindlmarkt, which helped the second
•
Improved contacts with WMBD TV and WEEK TV gained
us more TV exposure in the second half of the year.
•
We participated in Pekin's first annual diversity fair as the
Excite Peoria event (which replaced World Fest).
•
Worked with five area hotels to create special
Oktoberfest packages for attendees to the event. This
had been talked about for years, but we finally got this off
of the ground.
•
We have created a Twitter account for the German
American Society, but we have not employed it as of yet
(as far as I know).
•
As to Facebook, our pages saw tremendous growth in
Likes during the year.
Facebook Page
Likes
Peoria Oktoberfest
366
German American Central Society
304
Lindenhof of Peoria
303
Kristkindlmarkt
260
Das Bier Run
229
Likes are folks that "like" your FaceBook page and are
interested in following the content you post on your page.
The Lindenhof and GACS pages grew by over 100 new likes
since last April. The Kristkindlmarkt grew by 120 new likes
since September.
By doing all of these increase activities we believe we
increased turnouts at most of our events and by continuing to
use these improvements we should see even better
attendance at our events in 2015!
The Kristkindlmarkt at the Lindenhof
-9-
German-American
Central Society
7601 N. Harker Drive
Peoria, IL 61615
Stamp
www.peoriagermans.net
(309)691-7484
Fasching Ball
(Mardi Gras Ball)
The
Lindenhof
Saturday, February 7th
6:00 pm - 12:00 am
The West McQueen Street
Band
From 7-11 pm
Traditional German Costume Ball
Costume Contest · Cash Bar
$8.00 Per Person
Please Bring a Dish to Share
7601 N. Harker Drive in Peoria, IL
Contact Trudy Smith for More
Information 309-697-4195
info@peoriagermans.net