Cannstatter Volksfest-Verein 150. Jubiläum – A Book Review

_{Cannstatter Volksfest-Verein 150. Jubiläum (150th Anniversary 2022) Cannstatter Volksfest-Verein. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 2022. 190pp.}

On Labor Day, I sat under the tent at the Cannstatter V.V. with a hamburger, a beer, and my family. It was enjoyable, the weather was nice, the food good, the beer cold. The music from the Spitzbuam transformed the park creating the festival atmosphere.

From the direction of the fruit column, I saw one Peter Jauss approaching our group and when he got close, we waved to him in greeting. A good friend, he placed a stack of four or five Cannstatter Volksfest-Verein books on our table. The covers were vibrant and inviting enough for me to open one up, right then and there.

Quickly paging through I found the ad from the United German Hungarians and maybe a few others I had a hand in designing. From that quick paging through it was easy to see that the central focus of this book, is the history of the Cannstatter.

Some organizations and even clubs create “ad books,” or “program books” and those items serve their purposes. Others, when the occasion warrants it, create books of history, compiling the written stories, the graphic representations, photos, artifacts, and well wishes. In the very best cases a codex like this one captures the very essence of what their club has been, what it is today, and hopefully provides a glimmer of where they will go in the future.

Clubs like our own and like the Cannstatter nourish its members with tradition, social recreation, hard work, and with the recipes for meals passed down through generations. This book takes those recipes and records them in print in a way unlike any book I have perused of its kind. In the final few book pages, you will find the recipes for Linsen und Spaetzle, Gaisburger Marsch, Rostbraten, Schupfnudeln, and of course Spaetzle. (These have already been added to my “to cook” list).

The day after the festival I sat in my study, and I read this book from cover to cover. A great relationship exists between how well the book is designed graphically and how extensive, but approachable the history and features are.

I have a shelf in my study with a collection of the United German Hungarians similar books. Some of these I even chaired myself. A few others from other clubs reside there as well. I’ve acquired many of these type of books over time. Not all the books from other clubs make it on to that shelf for a long term. This one will. The Cannstatter Volksfest-Verein 150th volume changes the game for me with books of this style.

As its own artifact, it proves the old motto that the Cannstatter V.V. is,

“Furchtlos und Treu.”

Michael N. Fricker