Top left: 2018 Miss Clinton County Fair Kaylee Hempen milks a cow during Monday night’s milking contest; top right: Cameron Griesbaum competes against family in a squirt gun contest. (Photos by Melissa Wilkinson)
Top left: Prizewinning baker Martha Reinkensmeyer; top right: Evelyn Ribbing and the Best in Show desk that she built; middle left: Marvin Wiegman of the Lions, right, shares a laugh with Tammy and Robert Gerstenecker at the fair; middle right: Dairy Judge Boyd Schaufelberger from Greenvile, on the far left, looks over cows shown by Emmet Schomaker, in the middle, and Jason Brammeier on the right (photo by Diane Sinclair); bottom left: Cara Carrillion of Carlyle and her show hog; bottom right: Denise Sinclair and her first place pieced quilt top. (Photos by Mandy Ribbing)
Top left: 2019 Miss Clinton County Fair contestant Hannah Hill of Sandoval; top right: 2019 Miss Clinton County Fair contestant Lillian Wright of Albers; middle left: 2019 Miss Clinton County Fair contestant Madison Lammers; middle right: 4-H leader Cheryl Timmermann measures the results of team Bryanna Becker of Bartelso’s efforts during Monday night’s cow milking contest; bottom left: Caiden Litteken, and bottom right: Laila Barr, with their show hogs. (Photos by Melissa Wilkinson)
The 2019 Clinton County Fair kicked off Monday night despite the absence of the parade. Fair officials said the decision to cancel the beloved annual parade was made after a large number of floats pulled out of the lineup last minute, fearing weather complications.
The organizers of the Clinton County Fair have rescheduled the annual parade for this Friday, July 19, at 6 p.m. beginning at Carlyle High School.
The original parade, set to march from the Clinton County courthouse to the Carlyle fairgrounds, was canceled a few hours before showtime on Monday, July 15. The decision sparked confusion, as organizers posted on Facebook earlier that day stating the parade would go on “rain or shine.” Several citizens questioned why the event was canceled despite forecasts for rain ending an hour before the parade was set to begin.
“We regret that we had to cancel the parade on Monday evening and no one was more upset than the volunteers of the fair and parade,” said organizer Lori Jansen. “Huge amounts of time and effort are always necessary to put the parade together. When we decided Monday morning that we were planning to have the parade rain or shine, we were comfortable with that decision. The decision to cancel the parade was made for us. Many parade entries canceled due to the weather forecast. Marching bands, many with floats to be assembled, and many with electronics were uncomfortable with the uncertainty of the weather. We could have continued with a parade but the number of entries would have been so very low that it would have been disappointing and it is not possible to turn a parade back on in a matter of minutes or even hours if the weather clears.”
This Friday’s parade will have a substitute parade route beginning at Carlyle High School. The parade will travel south on 13th Street and turn west on Fairfax Street, ending near the old Walmart building parking lot. According to Jansen, this parade route will avoid the lengthy paperwork required to cross one of the state highways which takes weeks to process.
The parade lineup will begin at 5 p.m. in the Carlyle High School parking lot. Jansen said the process would be less formal than years previous as the organizers lack the time to do it more formally.
“The Clinton County Fair Association appreciates the great cooperation with the city of Carlyle and the Carlyle Police Department and we look forward to seeing you at the parade,” said Jansen.
A Spassfest banner carried during the 2019 Albers Fourth of July parade. Inset: 2019 Spassfest parade grand marshal Don Albers and parade chair Sherri Diesen. (Photos by Melissa Wilkinson) Germantown’s famous Spassfest is back in all its glory, beginning on Aug. 17 at 11 a.m. at Schoedienst Park in Germantown.
Unlike last year’s “Bierfest” — a scaled down version of Spassfest designed to put less stress on volunteers — this year’s 52nd annual Spassfest will see the return of the parade. The 2019 parade theme is “Celebrating our Heritage, Two Flags at a Time.”
This year’s parade grand marshal is Don Albers, a Germantown businessman who has been instrumental in Spassfest since its initiation.
“It started as a fundraiser with a bunch of older guys, including my dad. They wanted to do something so we could establish parks,” said Albers. “Over the years we’ve had some very successful events. The first few years it was not uncommon to sell four or five hundred half barrels of beer.”
Spassfest has evolved over the years from simply a fundraiser into a celebration of German culture and heritage, attracting people from all over Clinton County and beyond. This year’s event also features the return of German-themed “Polka Mass” on Saturday evening as well as a Sunday morning breakfast in the park.
According to Sherri Diesen, parade chair since 2007, the funds raised from Spassfest are allocated to community-based groups and projects in Germantown. The success of Spassfest, as well as its ability to support the Germantown community, is dependent on volunteers, who typically work for two-hour shifts in the booth of their choice.
“Some people haven’t been in Germantown for a long time. A lot of them don’t know what Spassfest is all about,” said Diesen. “We’ve always had a dedicated committee group that has done it for several years but they’re starting to get older. We need new bodies. That’s one thing we’re really struggling with this year.”
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451.18 |
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450.75 |
| Tues., July 16 | 450.44 |
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