St. Paul's Oktoberfest features Hammerschlagen, Steinholding

The St. Paul Lutheran Church of Waseca held its Oktoberfest into the night on Saturday, Oct. 4. There was live music, food, refreshments, a bounce house, hammerschlagen and more. All proceeds were slated for a church youth group mission trip and attendance at the “Higher Things” conference. The event raised $940.

 

John Lucca, member of the band Los T was taking a break from playing in the heat to grab a drink, “We’ve been playing since one and will play till four, then the musical group Marv and Kaat will take over till 7:30 p.m. tonight.” As he spoke, a few children walked past dipping giant pretzels into nacho cheese, the occasional giant white grain of salt dropping to the parking lot. Mark Pehrson, President of the congregation said, “I accompany everyone on the mission trips, we went to Washington D.C. last year; this year we’re going to San Juan, Puerto Rico.” He also helps to organize events and raise funds, and helps with the festival itself when there’s time.  

 

In the middle of the parking lot, not far from the concessions, people were pounding big nails into stumps. Upon further inspection, it was found these people were playing a German game called Hammerschlagen, according to an online source, “Hammerschlagen (also called Stump or Nagelbalken German for, ‘nail beam’, is a game in which participants compete against each other to drive nails into a wooden beam.” The stumps are set up to be waist high. Using hammers, players prove their strength by being the first to pound their nails in. There were cash prizes passed out to the top three winners for the bean bag toss and hammerschlagen.

 

For the game of Steinholding, there was a line of large German-style beer mugs, but instead of filling them with beer, players were using water. With both a men’s and women’s competition; while using the filled mugs, players held them straight out, the last one to lower their arm was the winner. There were cash prizes for this competition as well. These competitions took place while the bands were on break to give the competitors some serious stage time. The event continued through 8 p.m. when staff finally started putting things away and cleaning up.

 

St. Paul’s will hold a Friday night turkey commercial dinner to continue fundraising efforts for mission trips, on Oct. 17, Nov. 14, and Dec. 12.