Germanfest 2022

 Friday, July 29, 2022

There was a school bus shuttle that took us from the P parking lot to the volunteer gate.  It is a very long hike.  From there I managed to get a ride to the Culture Booth on a golf cart, another long hike.  The Culture Booth is on the extreme north side of the grounds.

Eileen and Peter did a fantastic job designing the Culture Booth with posters and other items that represented Salzburg  Peter bought an extra easel and had display boards made to fit the very large posters.   

Peter and I worked from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. with a steady flow passing and admiring our booth.  "The Sound of Music" material generated the most comments, with people mentioning they enjoyed the movie or had been to the various sites.  One young lady who had been in the play as Mother Superior and Sr. Margaretta was amazed to learn that "The Sound of Music" was based on a true story. I'm still a little congested from my cold, but I don't have a fever, so I felt OK.  We enjoyed the Schwabenhof schnitzel as the best value for the money.  We had about $17.00 each in food tickets, but most of the booths did not accept them.  Peter spent them on beer.

Saturday, July 30,

The weather is fabulous, just a tad warmer than yesterday, with sunny skies.  We got the bus shuttle, but the driver didn't know where the volunteer gate was.  It took a little driving around to find it.  Peter and I were able to get a golf cart ride to the Culture Booth.  There were very many people passing through with nice comments.  We had another schnitzel with a can of Coors Light for lunch. Peter left at about 3:30 p.m. to line up for the parade.  During the parade the Culture Booth emptied to just about only the people manning the booths.  After the parade we got a lot of traffic.  The Culture Committee secretary generously offered us two strips of tickets.  We found a Sports Club booth that accepted tickets and sold schnitzel that we ate by the lake.  They were very good.  We got a cup of beer that I didn't care for and drank it while watching the Phoenix Band play.  We left close to 9:00 p.m. and picked up the shuttle at the main gate that took us to the parking lot.

Sunday, July 31

We got to GF earlier and were in time to catch about thirty minutes of Alte Kameraden.  We got our meal tickets and bought two servings of two potato pancakes with three sausages; the pancakes were mushy.  We had to finish quickly because it was a long walk to the Culture Booth for our 5:00 p.m. shift.  Peter went ahead and I hoped to find a golf cart lift.  No such luck: I missed two empty carts; one driver couldn't pick up passengers because of COVID and another cart was going in the opposite direction.  I walked the entire way and was totally exhausted.  Peter got two more strips of meal tickets from the committee and bought two more schnitzels to go.  Then he found a green ticket on the ground with the amount not showing.  He turned it over to reveal a $5.00 ticket!  We had a good laugh with such luck.  So we each had two plates of schnitzel to take home.

The crowd was thinning down and we were informed that the event will be closing at 7:00 p.m. instead of 9:00 p.m.  A woman asked if we'd be able to take a couple of cartons of Gummy Bears off her hands.  We agreed to take three cartons, but they have to be kept cool, otherwise they would melt.  I can periodically put some in the treat bowl at the desk.

Most of the booths were packed away as we were leaving.  Peter will pick Eileen up tomorrow morning to pack everything away and take some to Eileen's house, the rest to his.  They will also enjoy a complimentary lunch.  There is no reason for me to go.

We got the shuttle with Clara, met Margie and Walter on the bus and confirmed that we will be meeting them at German American Day at Carl Schurz Park on August 13th.