The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Enjoy

Discussion

August 14, 2008

German festival begins today

By Dustin Shipman

dshipman@joplinglobe.com

A celebration of food, fun and games for the whole family will kick off this evening in Freistatt.

The Freistatt Lions Club will sponsor the 35th annual Ernte-Fest on Friday and Saturday. The event will feature music, entertainment and plenty of German food.

Bob Dieckoff, chairman for Ernte-Fest, said the festival, whose name means “harvest festival,” has evolved over the years. The spirit of the event is to let families enjoy and celebrate local German heritage, he said.

“Essentially Freistatt was founded by a group of Germans,” Dieckoff said. “We wanted to celebrate that, so the festival is designed to accent the community’s German heritage.”

Dieckoff said the food, which includes German potato salad, sauerkraut and plenty of bratwurst, is always a big draw for people. Traditional German favorites will be available as entire meals or as single items throughout the event.

“They usually estimate that we get around 10,000 people out here,” Dieckoff said. “We have all kinds of carnival type games and rides that we have put together, like a horse drawn merry-go-round.”

Dieckoff said Ernte-Fest is an event that should have something for everyone in the family, whether they would like to ride kiddie rides, play bingo, try some of the food or visit the Bier Garten and listen to live music.

“This is something for the whole family,” Dieckoff said. “The only thing that we restrict is the Bier Garten, which you have to be 21 or older for.

Tulsa-based band Music, Music, Music will play traditional polka on Friday night, Dieckoff said. Die Spitzbamn, from St. Louis, will also play.

There will be two stages of acts on both nights, as well. On Friday, Jackie Newton and the Queens will perform at 8 p.m.; on Saturday at 8 p.m., the local group Short Notice will take the stage.

The event will be held from 4:30 p.m. to midnight today and Saturday in Freistatt, which is located between Mount Vernon and Monett on state Route H. Admission to the event is free, parking costs $3 per vehicle.

Text Only
Enjoy
  • 052512_amp-5fdp2.jpg Fayetteville venue brings more big-name concerts to area

    Staff members at the Arkansas Music Pavilion are under no illusion. They know that those three and all the other thousands of people turned out to see the band that would take the stage, not the venue itself. (Carlton said she would go to hell to see the right band.)

    May 25, 2012 1 Photo

  • psrobber2.jpg Broadway, bluegrass fused in ‘Bridegroom’

    Ann Lile loves bluegrass music and fun stories. She plans to turn back the clock at the Joplin Little Theatre to 18th-century Mississippi and fill the air with live bluegrass music and a tale of theives and lovers with her direction of “The Robber Bridegroom.”

    May 25, 2012 1 Photo

  • jeremycamp.jpg Second Restore Fest to feature Jeremy Camp, Mandisa

    Jeff Roman, partner relations director at Convoy of Hope, worked with Cox to return Christian recording artists to the stage in the second Restore Fest, which will take place Saturday in Landreth Park.

    May 25, 2012 1 Photo

  • Joe Hadsall Joe Hadsall: Sherlock Holmes enjoying a renaissance

    I was in the first grade when I read my first “Sherlock Holmes” book. It was a young readers edition of “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” Each left-hand page had 14- or 16-point text set in New Century Schoolbook; each right-hand page had a line illustration. One of those was a big, scary-looking dog.

    May 25, 2012 1 Photo

  • images_sizedimage_094173528 'Battleship' shows need for list of summer movie warnings

    I like to think that writing these columns does more than just allow me a chance to offer up senseless opinions that are easy to skip over when trying to find the next show time for the latest “Madagascar.”

    May 25, 2012 1 Photo

  • Jermiah-Tucker-020812.jpg Jeremiah Tucker: New charting methods help alternative music

    Now the Hot 100 is using digital data such as iTunes downloads and plays on streaming sites such as Spotify, in addition to radio play, to determine a song’s ranking. This is likely a big reason why a song like “Somebody That I Used to Know,” which has benefited from high-profile exposure on TV, can be the No. 1 song in the country.

    May 25, 2012 1 Photo

  • Lee-Duran-033010.jpg Lee Duran: Aspiring authors must ‘be tough or be gone’

    According to Chila Woychick, most readers will close a book and walk away at page 18. Could anything be more depressing?

    May 25, 2012 1 Photo

  • images_sizedimage_033103148 Dave Woods: Branson attractions welcome Memorial Day visitors

    People ask me the same question time and time again: How are folks in Branson?

    May 25, 2012 1 Photo

  • Dave Woods: Branson attractions welcome Memorial Day visitors

    On Feb. 29, an EF-1 storm bounced its way through the Midwest’s Music City. It ripped roofs off of theaters and motels, damaged dozens of glitzy showbiz signs, collapsed the walls of retail outlets and dampened the spirits of a community ready to kick off the spring travel season.

    May 25, 2012

  • Lee-Duran-033010.jpg Lee Duran: Self-publishing brings success to twenty-something

    I doubt there’s any to top that of Amanda Hocking. Considering that she’s only in her mid-20s, she’s come a long way from the days of rejection by agents and publishing houses and go-nowhere jobs.

    May 18, 2012 1 Photo