This story about Germanfest volunteers originally was published in 2010 … and somehow it seems, nothing much has changed.
Hundreds of volunteers have helped make Germanfest possible. The festival committee has been singing their praises noting all the hard work, dedication and commitment.
“Without the volunteers we couldn’t run this event,” said Germanfest committee member Jon Kieckhafer. “There are well over 200 people who help; as soon as Germanfest is over we start planning for the next year and the volunteers start kicking in right away.”
Event planning, preparing the grounds, serving beer and desserts, cleaning the grounds – Kieckhafer said “without them we couldn’t put this great event on.”
- “The one thing I notice is their willingness to just get in here and start running – it’s like, ‘what do I have to do’ and then they just go. When I called and ask somebody to help in our tent, never once did somebody say, ‘no thanks I really can’t do it this year.’” Peggy Fisher – experienced tapper and Germanfest committee member
- “It’s a lot of hard work putting on a festival and the volunteers are wonderful. Behind the bar I have a pretty good group of people that come back each year.” Dolores Stoffel – beer frau
- “I only have them work four-hour sessions so they don’t get over loaded and they always want to come back.” Marolyn Kell – sheepshead frau.
- “First time I saw Germanfest I liked it; I liked the music and I liked the friendship and the whole operation and decided I wanted to be a volunteer.” Bill Lutz, volunteer since 1990.
- “I have an excellent group of volunteers; just very, very nice people who help year after year. My area is very positive – how can you go wrong with sugar and chocolate?” Judy Etta – dessert frau
- “The surprising thing for me is all the familiar faces that are still there; still hard at work, still doing the same thing. Sally’s working on the sheepshead and when Ernst was around – he was tapping the beer… all the familiar faces.” Lisa Neumann
- “When Herb got up the other night and announced the committee members – he got a little choked up and it makes me proud to help keep something like this going in honor of them.” Peggy Fisher – Germanfest committee member
More details on Germanfest can be found at West Bend Germanfest.com