Fest updates

Horseshoe pitching

Kathy Ratkowski, the sole surviving member of the Odessa Horseshoes Club, tells The Record that, unless a miracle happens, there will be no horseshoes event during Deutschesfest this year. There is one state-sanctioned tournament left on the statewide schedule to be held here locally sometime after Fest, but that will likely be the end of horseshoes in Odessa unless local people suddenly develop an overwhelming interest in the sport and volunteer to help maintain the horseshoe pits and participate in tournaments.

Bed races

There will be bed races this year. Last year’s runner up, the law firm of Carpenter, McGuire and DeWulf, has posted flyers on the post office bulletin board announcing the deadline for sign-ups as August 30. The entry fee is $50, payable to the Odessa Chamber of Commerce. All participants receive a commemorative T-shirt. Each team consists of five persons, one to ride on the bed and four to provide locomotion. Any business, non-profit or group of individuals may participate. The theme this year is “Super Heroes” and participants are required to dress in accordance with the theme.

Food

The family of Jerry and Ellen Schafer of Das Kraut Haus in downtown Odessa will not be providing food during Fest this year. The business is for sale, the owners are in retirement and their kids and grandkids are busy with their own careers.

But never fear! Fest 2019 will NOT be without Kartoffel-n-Kloess and homemade sausage served from Das Kraut Haus. Rural resident Jeff Melcher and several of his friends have made sausage to sell at Fest and will also serve the creamy potato-and-noodle (K&K) side dish, along with hot mustard prepared according to the Schafer recipe.

Melcher is using Das Kraut Haus this year to prepare and sell his own proprietary version of German sausage under the auspices of his newly established company, “Guten Wurst.” By next year, however, he hopes to have a USDA-inspected commercial enterprise established at his farm.

The sausage sold and served in the Biergarten this year will be produced by Biergarten chairman Trevor Smith and several of his friends. Voise Sausage by Summers will also sell various meat products from the company’s First Street location across the street from the Biergarten, and Kelly and Don Korpinen, owners of JonathINN’s, have been convinced by popular demand to sell their sausage again this year from their booth on Division Street, putting off their retirement for yet another year.

Parking

Zach Schafer, Chamber president, and Jeff Huiras, vice president, have consulted with Town Marshal Brent Dell about eliminating on-street parking on First Avenue between Alder and First Street during the four days of Deutschesfest (from Thursday evening through Sunday morning). Taking this action would mean having to clear the cars away only once and open up the downtown storefronts so that visitors can see what shops are available. As was offered as a trial run during Spring Fling in April, vendors will be assigned places in the on-street parking areas to draw more visitors to the businesses located at the west end of town.

Suggestions for opening additional parking areas on south Division Street, between the back of the Old Town Hall and the railroad tracks, as well as elsewhere, were also made.

Old Town Hall

The Old Town Hall Rejuvenation Society will hold the annual Friday morning bake sale benefiting the Odessa Historical Society, followed on Friday and Saturday afternoons by split-the-pot bingo.

There will be no second-hand sale at the Old Town Hall this year, although yard/garage sales will still be held by individuals at various locations throughout the town.

The used book sale will still be held next door to the chiropractic office.