Old home week for New Ulm band in Neu Ulm

Editor's note: Journal Editor Kevin Sweeney has been traveling with the New Ulm Municipal Band in Germany during the past week. This story is the final installment until the band returns Wednesday.

By KEVIN SWEENEY

Journal Editor

NEU ULM, Germany -- It was almost like old home week for the New Ulm Municipal Band when it performed at the Neu Ulm city festival Sunday.

Thanks to the Sister Cities relationship between Ulm/Neu Ulm and New Ulm, many people came up to band members to say they have been to New Ulm in the past.

One man, for example, has been to New Ulm twice, once a member of the Ulm Stadtkapella, and another time on a trip with the fire department. (He says hello to Jerry Plagge.)

Two other New Ulm names they remember are Bert Schapekahm (They remember how much beer he drank over here. They were also sad to hear of his death in May) and Buttsy Palmer of the Concord Singers ("Ah Buttsy," they say with a smile, rocking back and forth in an imitation of Buttsy on stage.)

The New Ulm Municipal Band played for three hours at the festival in Neu Ulm, and then played a concert at 5 p.m. in the courtyard in front of the Muenster Cathedral in Ulm.

The concerts bring the New Ulm Municipal Band's official duties to an end on its tour. Today and Tuesday will be for touring and sightseeing. The band returns to New Ulm on Wednesday.

For band members, it has been a busy trip, exhilarating and exciting. They have been made welcome everywhere they have gone.

During their stay in the Ulm area, they have been hosted by members of the Herbrechtingen Musikanten, the city band from Herbrechtingen, a half hour from Ulm. The band played in New Ulm at Heritagefest, and some of the members are returning the hospitality to their host families who cared for them in New Ulm.

One member of the New Ulm band started making friends before the trip.

Elizabeth Miheve, 15, who plays clarinet, made a contact through the Internet when she found out about the trip last February. She then continued to correspond with the young fellow through e-mail.

Miheve had told him her favorite food was Oreo cookies, a treat he had never heard about. So her gift for him from America was a big bag of Double-Stuff Oreos. He and a couple of friends came to the band's concerts in Detmold.

The trip has been enjoyable for the band. Members have formed friendships with their host families, and all rave about the hospitality they have received.

After playing a short concert Saturday night in Herbrechtingen, the Herbrechtingen Musikanten members treated the band and their entourage to a banquet in the town's Rathaus.

One member, Marcus Belowitzer, is a one-man show band with his electronic keyboard. He had members of both bands dancing, schunkeling, and snake-dancing around the room.

For some band members, this is familiar territory.

Don and Flo Wilfahrt have hosted many people over the years for Heritagefest, and this is their second trip to Germany. "It's a busy trip," said Don.

"It's kind of going fast. It's hard to believe that this is our last concert.

Wilfahrt was surprised by the reception the band has received by its audiences in Detmold and in Ulm.

Bev Simonson, from Sleepy Eye, who plays flute with the band, said Germany is as picturesque as the pictures in the tour books portray it, and the people have been very friendly.

LeAnn Miheve is impressed by the ability of the people to communicate with the band. Most people here speak at least a little English, and the band members are picking up a little German here and there.

Some small things impress the band members.

Windows in buildings have no screens on them There are no bugs, especially mosquitoes, to worry about.

Breakfast fare is different. New Ulmites used to cold cereal are adapting nicely to morning feasts of fruit, bread, hard rolls, sliced meats and cheeses, and a variety of jams and jellies, most of them home-made.

Martin Meidl and another band member are staying in a guest hotel, which is closed now because the owners are on holiday. The owners' children are taking care of them. On Sunday Meidl came to breakfast to find a 10-foot-long breakfast table loaded with enough food to feed 30 guests.

The narrow streets and highways are another eye-opener, especially when your bus driver passes a truck with a car zooming up in the oncoming lane. (The truck and the car pulled over onto the shoulders a little, and everyone got through safely.)

Today, the band will do some sightseeing in Ulm, though some may go to Munich not far away.

The band travels to Nürmberg and Würzburg on Tuesday for more sightseeing, staying overnight in a castle hotel. The delegation leaves for Frankfurt and the airport on Wednesday morning.