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 2008 Brandon's 5th Annual Lieutenant-Governor's Winter Festival 2008 was held January 31st,February 1st and 2nd . The German Pavilion had another highly successful year , recording the high numbers of Pavilion goers entering the sights and sounds of Germany. Our 2008 German Ambassadors was Peter and Bev Reiss who enjoyed the task of being good will ambassadors. Accepting the good will of all the other Pavilions was not a hard task to take ! Click to Enlarge The Alpine Express, our local oom-pah band headed by Jeff Harland, filled the atmosphere with the sounds of Germany. Click to Enlarge
The Regina Edelweiss Dance Group entertained the crowds with their authentic German dancing. Click to Enlarge
Delicious traditional German food dishes were prepared by our chefs, Larry de Vries, Matt Otten and Joanne Canada-Somers. Click to Enlarge
We featured a life size Gingerbread House which was devoured by hungry visitors .Traditional Pretzels, Gingerbread Hearts, Candied Apples, German Chocolates, German Cookies and Cakes were available. We also had Oktoberfest Hats, shooter glasses as well as a number of German Souvenirs. There was an abundance of German culture items to explore . Of course we also had German Beer , Wine and Schnapps to help experience the "culture".
Our Woodcarver ,Brock and Karen Blosser from Kenora ,carved faces out of tree roots which is called "Wurzelkopf"(roothead) or "Berggeist"(mountain spirit). These faces were first carved to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.
We were fortunate to have Marc Bellon join us this year to let us experience his talent. Marc is an experienced alphorn player from Souris. The alphorn is a wind instrument which is carved or bored in wood and over wound with birch bark. Some instruments are straight, reaching 12 feet (4 meters) in length. Sharon Horn was successful in arranging our Saturday afternoon yodeling contest. We had a number of volunteers testing their yodeling abilities. It was a sight to behold or was that ears to behold ! We also featured a show and tell on how to do the Schuhplattler. Fun was had by all !
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The success of the event is largely due to the dedication of the members German Society ,the tireless time and efforts of many volunteers as well as the City of Brandon for supporting the quest of educating its citizens on the cultures, which helps to make our city , home.
Please view a few more memories of the German Winter Festival of 2008.
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