The German Family Society was founded in 1955 by mostly Danubeswabian and a number of German and Austrian immigrants in the basement St. Bernard’s Catholic church. The inspiration behind our founders was to set up a social organization that would promote our culture and pass down our ethnic heritage and family values to future generations. In the 1960’s, because of the need for more space, the GFS relocated to the German-American club on Grant Street. Many years full of happy memories were spent there with dances almost every month having themes like the well-attended “Schlachtenfest”, the always fun-loving “Maskenball” and still a favorite today, the “Traubenfest. How many of you still remember the “Hochwasser Tanz” (often performed by the “Edelweiss” band), where the women would roll up the pant legs of their men partners? These “good-old days” will forever be cherished by those of us old enough to remember!

However, as time moved on, our membership understood a need to have a place we could call our own, so in 1973 (with the financial help of our members) we purchased an original 10 acres of land in Brimfield now known as Donau-Park. The original purchase sometimes referred to in the past as our “swampland” had only a small building, a tiny old house (later replaced with our front parking) and overgrown woodland. Proudly, however, through the hard work and sweat of many members, we have turned this meager beginning into a spectacular park with over 20 acres containing a beautiful clubhouse, two pavilions and soccer fields, and is now worth more than anyone could ever have imagined. We are proud of the fact that our entire facility is debt free and is maintained by members who continue to volunteer their time and energy. Today we carry on promoting our heritage with events such as our Christmas program and Mother’s Day celebrations, and with various dances each year, having themes such as: Vienna Night, the Wine/Grape Festival, a New Year’s Eve Formal, and a Hawaiian Night (with a terrific, authentic Hawaiian show put on by our national prize winning Youth Group Dancers). Recently we also began sponsoring Concert-Dances each year with famous performers from Germany and Austria. Of course, our best-known events are the 2-day “Old European Days-Pig Roast & Bierfest” held every year on the last weekend of June, and our 3-day “Oktoberfest”.

Our organization has many ways to become involved, such as our Ladies Auxiliary (still regarded as the “Heart of our Society”), which prepares the delicious homemade meals for all of our events and weddings, but still enjoys time together at many other outings. We also have our Kinder, Jr. Youth, and Youth folk-dancing groups, the Harmony Singers choir, a newly formed young adult “Tanzgruppe”, and the Golden Ring Seniors. For those more interested in sports we have numerous soccer teams for youth and adults, with both men and women’s teams.

Mit freundlichem Gruss:
Sepp Geiser, Praesident