Advice from a small town girl

Deutschesfest is over for another year, and it seemed to be a good one, thanks to a lot of small town heroes.

Our little four-day extravaganza does not just happen spontaneously, as everyone who has ever been involved already knows.

I try to make sure to remember just how much work goes into making Fest happen, both on the scene and behind it.

Because I (try to) play in the Oom Pas and Mas, I am frequently on the scene. I wear my dirndls and have a smile on my face, and am pretty highly visible. Probably too much so.

This past week I’ve been thinking about the less visible people.

I don’t know who actually cleans the toilets in the biergarten, but I want to thank them. Profusely.

I also want to thank the people who empty the trash cans on First Avenue. I want to thank them a lot.

I want to thank the biergarten chairpeople, but I also want to thank the men and women who work behind the bar, who thread their way between tables and benches delivering full pitchers and picking up empties. And especially the ones who clean the bathrooms.

I want to thank the people who spend hours washing pitchers in the back corner.

I want to thank all the Lions Club members and friends who worked long hours finishing the new stage. It looks wonderful and it got rave reviews from the band members.

I want to thank the volunteers who showed up to help out at the biergarten weeks in advance of the event.

I want to thank the school kids who were out bright and early Monday morning, cleaning up the town.

I want to thank the Town of Odessa for allowing the bands who play in the biergarten to use the library as our “green room.”

I want to thank the volunteers who performed such various tasks as putting together hundreds of yard sale and activity maps, who made sure the information booth was staffed and stocked, who supervised various groups all around town to ensure a steady supply of food and beverage and information.

I want to thank the people who cleaned the streets, who got out the publicity, who baked kuchen and pies and coffee cakes and cookies.

I want to thank everyone who booked entertainment in for the event, from the strolling magician and musician to the bluegrass band at the museum. And of course at the biergarten.

I was very excited this year to have young people in charge of so much of the event. Their energy, enthusiasm and new ideas went a long way to making the event a success.

I want to thank the volunteers who drive the shuttle bus around town all weekend.

I want to thank everyone who provided a welcoming smile to our visitors, because without that, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t come back.

I want to thank the women who made those delicious pickles.

I myself make around 30 kuchen each year, which get split between the museum bake sale and the Heritage church pie booth. I usually help set up bookshelves and books for the Friends of the Library book sale. I work at least one shift at the cabbage roll booth, one at the used book sale, and the breakfast at the school cafeteria Sunday morning. I discovered a couple of years ago that I couldn’t work the late shift in the biergarten sausage booth Saturday night and still serve breakfast on Sunday. And of course, I play several sets of polkas and waltzes and the occasional swing tune with the rest of the band.

I help hang quilts at St. Matthew’s and then help take them down again.

And I feel guilty, because I know there are lots of people out there who do WAY more than I do. And I don’t see them writing about it in the newspaper.

I know I haven’t even come close to listing you all.

I’m not trying to toot my own horn here.

What I’m trying to do is say thank you. Especially if you clean the bathrooms.