Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Dancers at the Spokane German-American Society last Saturday do the Chicken Dance with Ellen Holman at left.
The band, though relatively small in number, played with gusto and got the crowd up and dancing.
Drummer Clark Kagele gets some help on the cymbals from an audience member at Saturday’s Oktoberfest celebration of the German-American Society at Deutsches Haus in Spokane.
Odessa’s Oom Pas and Mas German band has been on tour the past two weekends, playing at Oktoberfests in Coeur d’Alene and Spokane.
The Coeur d’Alene event on September 29 had a microbrew tasting event thrown into the mix of entertainment, food and beer.
The German-American Society in Spokane held their own Oktoberfest celebration on October 6, which was incidentally the final day of the Munich Oktoberfest after which all other such events are named.
After a meal of grilled sausage, sauerkraut, German potato salad and rolls was prepared and served by the members of the society, the entertainment began on the second floor of Deutsches Haus on Third Avenue in downtown Spokane. The Concordia Choir, consisting of male and female members of the German-American Society sang a selection of German festival songs. Between songs, their spokesman described the history of the Oktoberfest and its resonance with people all over the world.
The Oom Pas and Mas then took the stage for about an hour, playing plenty of polkas and waltzes for the dance-crazy crowd. These folks take their dancing seriously, and once they got going, the floor was packed for every piece the band performed. From youngsters of about six or seven years old to some folks who had to be in their nineties, the dancers made their way to the floor and appeared to thoroughly enjoy the festivities. The Chicken Dance was, of course, very well received and brought by far the biggest crowd to the dance floor.
Many members of the German-American Society were in lederhosen and dirndls, so the Oom Pas and Mas felt right at home in that particular venue.
Although the size of the band was somewhat diminished compared to how many members participate during the height of the Odessa Deutsches Fest, the band played several of their old familiar standbys, and the sound was polished and well-balanced, at least to this reporter’s non-professional ear.
A country-style band took the stage following the Oom Pas and Mas, and the dancing continued. We don’t know how long the celebrating went on.
Each year, the band is asked to perform at various events throughout the area. The band’s contact person Clark Kagele tries to see how many interested and available band members he can find for each request, and he is usually able to bring the band to one or two of the events each year.
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