Oktoberfest

ends with

parade, music, and dancing

Die Schwarzwalder enjoy experience

in America

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- It may have been blustery and more like late October outside, but at the Holiday Inn and on Center Street Oktoberfest activities took the chill out of the air Saturday.

On the last day of 2002 Oktoberfest, old-time music and German bands played long, and loud, at both locations, and New Ulm's own German chorus, the Concord Singers, once again enthralled their audiences.

The annual German American parade and a horse-drawn trolley, which plied Minnesota Street from the Glockenspiel to the Chamber of Commerce, office accented the day's activities.

For Die Schwarzwalder, a four-member, German-music band that hails from the Black Forest in southwestern Germany, playing at the Holiday Inn Saturday was a new -- and exciting -- experience.

"We were formed in 1996, and this is our first visit as a group to America," said Charly Huber who plays clarinet and baritone. "Music is only a hobby for us; we all have jobs. We took vacation to come over."

Actually, New Ulm was the last stop in a four-city tour.

"In the last two weeks, we've played Oktoberfests at La Crosse and New Glarus a Swiss community) in Wisconsin and Albert Lea before coming here," Huber said. "We really enjoy playing over here because they really enjoy the music. In Germany, it is not so much."

That's why the band's 40-50 engagements a year at home are primarily in the Black Forest where they live and across the border in Switzerland. All four live in an area 70 miles south of Freiburg.

"In 10 minutes, we can be across the border into Switzerland so we play a lot there," Huber explained.

Die Schwarzwalder played five sets in the Poolside Room, alternating with the Concord Singers and the Valley Boys, Smiley Wiltscheck and Scott Sparlin.

The German band quickly captivated its late-afternoon audience, opening with a German tune that we know as the Beer Barrel Polka. They also included another local favorite, the "Liechtensteiner Polka." Later, to get the audience into the action, the band played the "Chicken" song.

Then, a 12-foot-long alpine horn was produced and played by the band's wheel-chair bound bass, baritone and accordion player, Rainer Eckert. Three women were selected from the audience by Heint Blum, the band's trumpet player, to take turns at trying to blow the alpine horn.

The band's leader and keyboardist, Jurgen Hassler, gave each woman a CD for participating. Then, to get more people out dancing, the band broke into a rendition of "Blue Hawaii."

Across the way in the German Rivers Room, the Bruce Bradley band led off at 2 p.m. Then, the Good Time Dutchmen and the Wendinger Brothers bands alternated the rest of the day. The Good Time Dutchmen played for a polka Mass at 5:30 p.m.

On Center Street, alongside the Chamber office, festivities got rolling at 11 a.m. with music by Johnny Helget. The Marv Nissel band followed at 2 p.m. and played to the 5 o'clock close.

There were brats and sauerkraut, beer and popcorn from the Brown County Historical Society's popcorn wagon.