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| Home | German Culture Fest
23-26
May 2003
Over
the 2003 Memorial Day Weekend it and partner organizations hosted a
German Culture Fest, which took place in four Iowa communities. A
celebration of German music, food, wine/beer, films, exhibits, cars
and special guests, the festival also included tours of relevant sites
and special events. (An Iowa Public Television feature about German POWs in
Iowa and Minnesota during World War II aired pre-event in mid-May and a
postponed open-air German brass-band concert took place in mid-June.)
A
native of North Iowa, Michael Luick-Thrams left his family’s farm 22 years
ago to live in Europe. Now a local historian, author and TRACES’ executive
director, he is helping his compatriots become more aware of their own
history—as well as the richness of contemporary Germany, where he lived
eight years while completing his doctoral studies. “The more we understand
the past, the better prepared we are to handle the future,” Luick-Thrams
says. “And, with currently strained trans-Atlantic relations, it is
especially important to reflect on how much the Midwest owes to its German
roots and has been enriched by them.”
The
German Culture Fest began at 11AM Friday, May 23rd, with a
“Celebration of German Desserts” and ended at 5PM Monday, May 26th,
with a tour guided by Luick-Thrams of A Captive Eye: German POW Art and Artifacts,
TRACES'
temporary exhibit at Mason City’s Music Man Square: in between a roster of
events and other attractions unfolded. See the below schedule for details. There
was no
charge for most of the events. Plans are underway for the event to be repeated in other Iowa communities each spring, using local sponsors' involvement and talent, far into the future; the next German Culture Fest will take place May 21st through 23rd, 2004.
Schedule
of the 2003 German Culture Fest: Thursday,
15 May: activity:
Iowa Public Television’s newsmagazine Living in Iowa featured German POWs’ 2002 Iowa visit time:
7PM location: public-television channels (24
in Mason City) contact
person:
Nancy Heather phone number/email address: 800.532.1290 heather@IPTV.org
Friday,
16 May: activity:
Iowa Public Television’s newsmagazine Living in Iowa featured
German POWs’ 2002 Iowa visit time:
8:30PM location: public-television channels (24
in Mason City) contact
person:
Nancy Heather
phone number/email address: 800.532.1290 heather@IPTV.org Tuesday,
20 May: activity:
Iowa Public Television’s newsmagazine Living in Iowa featured
German POWs’ 2002 Iowa visit time:
6:30PM location: public-television channels (24
in Mason City) contact
person:
Nancy Heather phone number/email address: 800.532.1290 heather@IPTV.org
Friday,
23 May: activity:
Celebration of German Desserts time:
11AM – 2 PM
location: Marjorie's Tea House, 320 Pennsylvania Ave. S.,
Mason City contact
person:
Steve Musson phone number:
641.421.8066 activity:
Celebration of German Food time:
5PM – 10PM location: Docks Restaurant, 475 North Shore Drive, Clear Lake contact
person:
Roger Dahl
phone number: 641.357.6338 activity:
Bouquet of German Music concert time:
7PM – 8:30PM location: United Methodist Church, 508 2nd Avenue,
Clear Lake contact
person:
Priscilla Waitek
phone number/email address: 641.420.3738 ADCInc@mchsi.com
Saturday,
24 May: activity:
a local daily
newspaper featured article “Germans in Northcentral Iowa: Yesteryear and
Today” time: Saturday
location: Globe-Gazette, Mason City contact
person:
Kristin Buehner
phone number/email: 641.421.0500 kristin.buehner@globegazette.com http://www.globegazette.com/archives/archive_template.php?content=http://www.globegazette.com/rednews/2003/05/24/stories/local/ni4.txt
activity:
individual sightseeing tours, starting at MacNider Art Museum (including
puppets used in “The Sound of Music”), Meredith Willson Bridge, Rock
Glen (neighborhood featuring Prairie School houses), Stockman House and Park
Inn Hotel (sites designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; Stockman House entrance fee
was $4) time:
10AM – 4PM Stockman House/9AM
– 5PM MacNider Art Museum
location: east side of downtown Mason City contact
person:
Bob McCoy
phone
number/email: 641.424.3444 mccoy.robert@mcleodusa.net activity:
“Tracing Your German Roots”, a workshop/panel discussion hosted by the
North Central Iowa Genealogical Society time:
10AM – 11:30AM location: Mason City Room, Mason City Public Library contact
person:
Irma Harris
phone
number/email address: 641.423.5930 iharris@netconx.net activity: German Film Fest, featuring three German films time:
11AM – 4PM location: MacNider Art Museum, 303 2nd Street
Southeast, Mason City contact
person:
Sheila Perry phone
number/email address: 641.421.3666
perry@macniderart.org activity:
Celebration of German Desserts time:
11AM – 2 PM location: Marjorie's Tea House, 320 Pennsylvania Ave. S.,
Mason City contact
person:
Steve Musson
phone number: 641.421.8066 activity:
tours of brick kilns where German POWs worked during WWII and nature walk at
fossil park time:
noon to 5PM
location: one mile west of Rockford/Iowa on B47 contact
person:
Barb McKinstry
phone number/email: 641.756.3490
fpcenter@omnitelcom.com
or www.fossilcenter.com activity:
“Medieval to Modern”: display of original German and other masters'
drawings time:
1PM – 5PM
location: Mooney Gallery in the Charles City Public Library,
106 Milwaukee Mall, Charles City contact
person:
Virginia Ruzika
phone number/email: 641.257. 6319 vruzicka@charles-city.lib.ia.us activity:
Celebration of German Wine and Beer time:
3PM – 6PM location: Sour Grapes Bistro, Decker House, 119 2nd
St SE, Mason City contact
persons:
Lee or Fredde
phone number/email address: 641.423.4700 or 888.363.4700 sourgrapes@netconx.net
www.masoncityiowa.com
(reservations requested) activity:
Celebration of German Food time:
5PM – 11PM
location: Docks Restaurant, 475 North Shore Drive, Clear Lake contact
person:
Roger Dahl
phone
number: 641.357.6338 activity:
public tours of surviving German-POW-Camp Charles City site (self-guided) time:
7:30AM – dark
location: Wildwood Golf Course, on Hwy. 14 just west of Charles City contact
person:
Julie Ash
phone number/email address: 641.257.6322
ashlund@rconnect.com Sunday,
25 May: activity:
Celebration of the Lutheran Church in German History and Culture polka
service
with sermon by Herb Brokering lecture:
Herb Brokering location: St. James Lutheran Church, 1148 4th St.
SE, Mason City contact
person:
Scott Duffus phone number/email
address: 641.423.4702 skduffus@charter.net activity: a Sonntagswanderung (a Sunday stroll), a chance to speak German while participants hiked amidst nature,
past
ruins of a brewery built by German immigrants time:
1PM – 3PM
location: Lime
Creek Nature Center, Hwy. 65 just north of Mason City contact
person:
Marty Pauley
phone/email: 641.696.5600 mpauley@jumpgate.net
activity:
Celebration of German Food time:
5PM – 11PM
location: Docks Restaurant, 475 North Shore Drive, Clear Lake contact
person:
Roger Dahl
phone
number: 641.357.6338 Monday,
26 May: activity:
“Poetry in the Park”: a reading of German poetry, in German and English time:
10:30AM – 11:30AM
location: seawall
opposite Public Square, West Main Street, Clear Lake contact:
Michael Luick-Thrams
phone
number/email: 641.423.8000 BUSeumTour@yahoo.com activity:
public picnic with German guests time:
noon
location: Music Man
Square, 308 Pennsylvania Avenue S., Mason City contact
person:
Patricia Schultz
phone number/email address: 641.696.3483 pals42@earthlink.net activity:
guided tour of German-POW exhibit A
Captive Eye: German POW Art and Artifacts time:
1PM – 2:30PM location: Music Man Square, 308 Pennsylvania Avenue S., Mason
City contact
person:
Carl Miller
phone
number/email: 641.424.2852 musicman@mach3ww.com activity:
Celebration of German Food time:
5PM – 11PM
location: Docks Restaurant, 475 North Shore Drive, Clear Lake contact
person:
Roger Dahl
phone
number: 641.357.6338 Sunday, 15 June: activity:
German Brass Band concert time:
3PM – 4:30PM
location: Band Shell, City Park, West Main Street, Clear Lake contact:
Ludvig Wandberg
phone number/email address: 641.357.3237
ludloie@netins.net all
of Memorial Day weekend: activity:
German Car Show time:
Friday
10AM – 9PM; Saturday 10AM – 6PM; Sunday 12PM – 5 PM; Monday 10AM –
5PM
location:
Southbridge Mall, 11 South Federal Avenue, Mason City contact
person:
Heather Forsyth
phone number/email: 641.423.6349 heatherf@berglandandcram.com for accommodation contact the Mason City Convention and Visitors Bureau at 641.422.1663 or 800.423.5724 or cvb@masoncityia.com, or visit www.masoncitytourism.com |