Hide Article Text (OCR)
A full moon and the weekend nearest the first day of August are two of the early requirements that were set in determining the date to hold the Schuetzenfeste in the early days of Gillespie County. This year the two coincide when the 1977 Gillespie County Schuetzenfest is held Saturday and Sunday, July 30 and 31, at the Grapetown Shooting Range with the Grapetown Eintracht as host. The full moon this year comes on July 30, so that’s about as close as you can get. The reason the Schuetzenfest was always held on the weekend nearest the first of August and on or near the time of a full moon was because those at tending traveled from throughout the county and would camp out on Saturday night, and this way it would be warm enough for that and there would be light at night. The moon furnished light for the night-time festivities which included dancing, fellowship and eating. It also provided the families who accompanied the shooting club members with light so the children could con tinue their play and the mothers could see that everyone was “bedded down after the dancing finally ended. Everyone came in their backs, buggies or wagons, and the host club provided feed and and water at cost for the horses. (Clubs are glad now they are not obligated to pay for the gasoline to bring participants to their “‘shoots.'’) Since the families always came along, the women were busy for several days before preparing food that they would bring with them. Each family brought its own food, but this was often shared with others, because tables were set up under a ‘‘Laube”’ or brush arbor where everyone was seated for the meals. While the men challenged each other to see who was the best marksman, no doubt the women were privately sizing up each other's cooking, too, to see who had the most delectable dishes. This, too, was a challenge in the days before ice chests. It is interesting to note this year that the Grapetown Eintracht was the first club to sponsor a festival. This was held July 29-30, 1893 -- 84 years ago, and Gottlieb Willms was the winner with a score of 53. In those days only six shots counted for the championship title of Schuetzenkoenig or “king of the shoot. . At this first meet teams and scores were led by the Tivydale Club, 144; Hubertus, 121; Grapetown, 114; and Luckenbach, 106. The oldest organized team in the county was the one from Luckenbach, organized June 1, 1881. Active now in Gillespie County Schuetzenfeste are the Grapetown Eintracht, Scharfschuetzen, Bear Creek, Hubertus, Tivydale and Barons Creek Clubs. Each year a Schuetzenkoenig (king of the shoot) is crowned as the champion marksman. For having compiled the best score, he is usually hoisted up on the shoulders of his fellow teammates or others, amidst the traditional toasts that ac company his receiving the trophy A county-wide Schuetzenfest has been held every year since the first one in 1893 with the exception of the World War II years of 1943, 1944 and 19465. Officers of the Gillespie County Schuetzenbund for this year are Pete Krauskopf, president; Theo Hohenberger, vice president; Chester Sch midt, secretary; and Werner Feller, treasurer. In this age of good highways and fast automobiles, no one comes to camp out overnight anymore, but the same fellowship and gemuetlichkeit still prevails at the Schuet zenfest of today. The com petition is probably keener than ever, the beer flows just as freely as it did from the kegs under the trees in the days of old. Music nowadays is usually provided by Pehl’s Oompah Band, who keep up their merry tunes during the afternoon while the women, children and interested spectators gather in the hall and under the trees while the marksman flock around the shooting range.
Newspaper Details
Fredericksburg Standard
Fredericksburg, Texas, US
Wed, Jul 27, 1977
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
TX, USA 09 Jun 2026
Other Publications Near Fredericksburg, Texas
Fredericksburg Fredericksburger Wochenblatt
Fredericksburg Standard
