Volume 68 – No. 7
July 2013
GERMAN HUNGARIANS PLACE 6th IN GRUPPEN PREISPLATTLER AT THE NATIONAL STAGE! G.H. COUPLE AWARDED 3rd PLACE MEDALS IN ADULT EINZELPLATTLER Departure and Arrival Our Hagey Tour bus driver, Tom, was both congenial and friendly as we traveled the width of Pennsylvania to Ohio. Leaving our clubhouse in Oakford at approximately 8 AM on Thursday morning, June 20th, a happy group of 44 arrived at our destination at around 6 PM. We checked in and met the other 17 who had traveled either by car or air. Later, we all attended the FRIENDSHIP DANCE. The Friendship Dance This dance was held in the Kalahari Ballroom and featured the Alex Meixner Band for the evening. This band is more than entertaining as anyone familiar with Alex can attest. We from Pennsylvania remember his father Al Meixner from Allentown who played often in our area. Alex now plays at many festivals throughout the US. We met many of our old friends and looked forward to the weekend. The Adult Einzel Competition This competition where a male and female, are judged together as a couple was divided into 4 age groups: Ages 16 to 34 – 66 couples Ages 35 to 49 – 17 couples Ages 50 to 59 – 11 couples Ages 60 plus – 7 couples We had 6 couples competing in the 16 to 34 age group: Alexander Blank and Michelle Paul Karl Fetzer and Jenn Lineman Michael Fricker and Karina Fricker Werner Fricker III and Allysa Reiter Daniel Galgon and Nichole Deely Sasha Malofiy and Mikaela Malofiy. The Youth Einzel Competition This competition included various ages groups – ages 6 to 9; ages 10 to 12; and ages 13 to 15 - who compete as a couple but are critiqued as individuals, however, the older group 13 to 15 are also judged individually. Our dancers competed as follows: Ages 13 to 15 – Stevie Paul with Kristen Reiter Stevie Paul with girls from Alpenrose, Lancaster Stevie Paul with 2nd girl from Alpenrose, Lancaster Steve Paul with Emma Walter. (Although Stevie danced four times, he was only judged on his first dance)
Ages 10 to 12 – Kyra Malofiy with Kevin Rase of Denver, Colorado Ages 6 to 9 – Matt Proll with Anika Mahadevan The awards for these competitions were to be announced at the Saturday Festessen (Banquet)
Meetings and Workshops There were various meetings throughout the four days: Flag Protocol, Flag Carriers, Vorplattlers and Officials. Workshops included: Wooden Spoon Workshop, Trachten Hairstyles for Ladies, Children Games and Dance Workshop, and Musical Instruments Tryout. There was also a Gau Library, a Children’s Area and a Schafkopf Tournier. Following the various meetings as a club we met in our BS room where the Vorplattler, Alex Blank informed us of our groups line up and dance we would perform on Saturday morning at the competition. The G.H. would be dancing first performing the Heidauer! At the close of this meeting Alex presented John Reiter, our immediate past Vorplattler with an “Ehren Vorplattler” medal. Needless to say John was honored to accept it! Heimatabend with Folkdancing This event took place on Friday evening from 7:30 to midnight. Although some of our group stopped in, the majority of us attended the Welcome Dance held from 8 to Midnight. Welcome Dance Alex Meixner once again provided his talents for this evening and a lot of fun was had as we reminisced with old and new friends. The evening ended at 1 AM but many dancers left early as tomorrow was the Group Prize Plattling competition. We knew our group would dance the “Heidauer” and were the first to perform. Oh yes!! Sometime during the evening, the “lucky penny” showed up. Group Prize Plattler Competition A warm up group consisting of the Enzian Delaware, the Auerhahn Oley PA, Alpenrose Lancaster PA, & Schlierachtaler Stamm opened the event. The 14 couple competition began with the United German Hungarians consisting of: Alex Blank and Emma Walter Danny Galgon and Nichole Deely Sasha Malofiy and Karina Fricker Werner Fricker III and Allysa Reiter All fourteen groups did very well. The awards were to be announced at the Sunday picnic. As a group of us headed back to the BS Room, we heard familiar band music coming from the huge corridor/lobby. It was the Heimatklänge with Billy Galgon, Joe Hartmann, John Reiter, Maria Antoniak, and Dan Galgon. A large banner proclaiming PHILADELPHIA was above them and our dancers were giving out small flyers stating: THE UNITED GERMAN HUNGARIANS OF PHILADELPHIA AND VICINITY
ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE WILL PLACE A BID TO HOST
26. GAUFEST 2017 (CONTINUED ON PAGE 5)