The 42nd annual Volksfest made
for a cheap night on the town for three 21-year-old
Evansville men looking to have a good time. The men, all
home from college for the summer, enjoyed their first
Germania Maennerchor beer and brat fest as contestants
in the first bratwurst-eating contest. Germania
Maennerchor, a German social and singing society, was
founded in 1900, when German immigrants were pouring
into Evansville. Maennerchor means "men's
chorus" in German.
Together, Rusty Lampkins, Jake Metz and Blake English
inhaled nine bratwursts - buns included - in seven
minutes, defeating the News 4U team which only managed
to eat five brats. Germania Maennerchor member and emcee
Mike Deiken provided both teams with two pitchers of
beer, free admission to the festival and trays full of
brats. Deb Lampkins cheered the boys on from the
audience, but looked worried when her son's hands
started to shake as he crammed his third brat into his
cheeks. "He'll be fine. And besides both of us are
coming out on top in the deal - he drinks and eats for
free and I didn't have to cook," she said. Before
the bratwurst-eating contest, the traditional German
festival kicked off at 6 p.m. with Evansville Mayor Russ
Lloyd Jr. tapping the first keg.
Lloyd may have tapped the first "official"
keg, but festival president Jim Kluesner had his beer
stein filled and refilled hours before. "I feel
like I drank a keg all by myself," he said after he
shouted, "Gemutlichkeit." The German word
doesn't translate into English, Kluesner said, but it
means good friends and fellowship.
"Today we celebrate Evansville's German
heritage, and you don't have to be German to understand
how to leave your worries at the door and have a good
time," Kluesner said. Along with the more than 80
barrels of beer, each of which contain about 165,
12-ounce cups, the festival offered 1,500 bratwursts,
5,000 pig knuckles, 400 pounds of German potato salad,
40 cases of sauerkraut and 60 boxes of instant mashed
potatoes.
Jack and Sandy Gibson of Henderson, Ky., enjoyed the
German cuisine. "All of this reminds me of when I
was a little girl going to festivals growing up,"
Sandy Gibson said. "The people here always do a
really nice job with the food and we love being with
friends."
Luella and Clarence Bredhold, in town from Florida,
took time away from their sodas to show the young crowd
how to dance the polka.
Before the couple moved to Florida, they lived in
Evansville and went to the first Volksfest in 1962.
"We don't have to drink to have a good time because
we still want to feel good tomorrow," she said. The
Volksfest will continue through Saturday.
Evansville resident Joyce Ivey said Thursday evening
there's no place she'd rather be than at the Volksfest.
"I'm not German but I am in my mind and heart when
I'm here," she said.
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2003 The E.W. Scripps Co.
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