On Saturday, June 1 the Kinder found themselves participating in the 26. Mid-Atlantic Kinderfest hosted by the German Hungarians on the grounds of Trifecta Sporting Club.
It’s very nice to see so many young people together taking pride in our heritage. The goal of this yearly event is to bring the children of different clubs together to build friendships. As someone who once participated in many a fest for kinder over the years, it feels good to see this tradition continuing. We focus a lot on continuity of our traditions as a German-American culture and Kinderfest is so important in reaching that goal.
Our guests began arriving and registering at 11:30. There’s always that bit of anticipation when you are the host and you are waiting for friends to join you. Once everyone had arrived, a parade was held with all the participating clubs and included the playing of all the National anthems. The remainder of the day featured great dance music from Die Heimatklaenge with dance performances from many groups during the band breaks. It was impressive to see these young dancers perform a great variety of Schuhplattler and folk dances throughout the day.
For the kid’s games, activities and a scavenger hunt were available all afternoon and the each participant received a Kinderfest lunch box and a beach ball. Summer here we come!
A great hit of the event was the Dunk Tank! The proceeds from this will benefit the Paul Ulrich, Sr. Scholarship Program. According to gauverband.com, “The Gauverband Nordamerika established the Paul Ulrich Sr. Scholarship Program at the request of and support by the Ulrich Family and other contributions to provide financial assistance through annual scholarships to university, college, trade school, or independent study to students involved in the promotion of Bavarian and Tyrolean cultural heritage.” Throughout the afternoon representatives from a variety of clubs took their place in the tank and all of them took multiple plunges into the drink for a great cause. The donation of over 600 dollars will be made to the fund in the name of the entire Mid-Atlantic Region!
Thank you to all the clubs that joined us for Kinderfest: Alpenland Tänzer, Alpenrose Schuhplattler Kindergruppe, Alt Washingtonia SV, Auerhahn Schuhplattler Verein, Bayern Verein Newark, Edelweiss Passaic, Enzian Volkstanzgruppe, Germania Almrausch SV, GTV Almrausch, SG Alpenland Montreal, and SVV Original Enzian. Thank you also to the Mid-Atlantic region and to Allyssa Schulz-Fricker for all her support and work all year long with the Kinder. Trifecta Sporting Club did a great job with food and beverage and we thank them for being our home and our venue for the event. Finally, thanks to all the U.G.H. volunteers who worked to make this event happen! When we as a club host events that bring together a greater community, it puts on display the strength and unity that lies within the German Hungarians.
Michael N. Fricker
