Heritagefest gets underway

Narren help get things off to festive start

By CHANCE PRIGGE

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Fritz eyed Tillie, the feather frau. Sausages hung from his belt and his tongue dangled from his mouth. His feelings for her is likely the talk of the town in Ganstadt, their home.

Must be time for Heritagefest.

The festival kicked off Friday and runs through Sunday, with the activities continuing and concluding next weekend.

This year is the 28th year Heritagefest has been held. Tents, booths and buildings once again are home to various musicians, activities and food.

Fritz and Tillie are two of the stars of the show. They're only a couple of the several Heritagefest Narren.

Dressed in colorful and sometimes drab clothing, the Narren can be seen all around Heritagefest. They wear hand-carved masks. Some, such as Fritz's, are cartoony. Others are spooky or downright scary.

Friday afternoon they put on a show in the Edelweiss Tent. They were introduced, one by one, with a little history and, sometimes, dance.

When the music kicked up, the Narren danced together and with audience members. Some members were eager to run on stage, others took a little more persuading.

The Narren could be seen all throughout the day, posing for pictures, walking in a group, waving to children -- even checking their cell phones.

Other entertainment acts took place as well, including the music of Alpenrose, Chuck Thiel and the Jolly Ramblers, the Saphirs, the Concord Singers, Fashion Music, and New Odyssey.

At its 4:15 p.m. show, New Odyssey had a packed show in the Rosen Tent.

The band, out of Chicago, played a variety of music, which it mixed with humor and audience interaction, in its ninth year at Heritagefest.

"We love it here," New Odyssey's singer and guitar player Michael Jay said. "It's like family. There are a lot of familiar faces."

The band, consisting of Jay, Gary Polkow on the keyboards and Gary Todd on drums, started off its concert with a jazzy cover of "In the Mood."

It then traversed several music genres, playing country, bluegrass, adult contemporary, boogie woogie and classical, among others.

"We try not to do too much of one style in a show," Jay said. "We do just about anything you can imagine."

He said the band has to mix it up to keep the audience and itself entertained.

"We're always learning new stuff," Jay said. "You have to."

The songs went from familiar to obscure. "In the Still of the Night" and the guitar-driven surf song "Wipeout" were familiar tunes, while other songs -- such as a mystery song that only a couple people of the hundreds in attendance could name after it was played -- were not so well recognizable.

The humor and audience participation kept the crowd entertained. It could largely be attributed to Todd, who played the drum sticks on everything but the drums during a good portion of "Wipeout."

"Entertainment is what it's all about," Jay said.

Todd also made several cartoony voices and jokes in between songs, getting a healthy chuckle from the crowd, and broke out a groggy Louis Armstrong impression for "What a Wonderful World."

The band, which has been together for 24 years, plays all around the country for most of the year. But, Jay said, it's still fun. It arrived in town fresh off a stint in Hershey, Penn.

New Odyssey finished its first show with "Proud to be an American," which had several sound bites from news coverage after Sept. 11.

"We wanted to do something," Jay said.

The band made the piece about a month after Sept. 11, with Polkow putting most of it together.

"I think everybody felt like doing something," Jay said.

Later in the day a mini-parade was held on the festgrounds. It led to the Bayerwald Tent, at which New Ulm's Concord Singers sang the national anthems of Germany and America.

The group played several songs, with the Narren, the Heritagefest Gnome Family and New Ulm Royalty schunkeling to it. Schunkeling, by the way, is swaying side to side with a group during music, and it's an unavoidable sight at Heritagefest.

The New Ulm Battery also shot three cannon shots into the air, in accordance to its tradition, before another tradition: keg tapping.

The day's clear and hot weather kept many people in the building and tents' shade, though crowds didn't seem afraid to venture out and about.

The music, food and activities continue tomorrow starting at 11 a.m. Many of the same acts, in addition to some new ones, will take place again. They conclude Sunday but will resume Friday.