SCHMECKFEST 2024: HUNDREDS GATHER FOR ‘HOMECOMING’

Schmeckfest, which has become about far more than just the ethic heritage of the community, once again delights guests from near and far

Leroy Saner was fresh out of college in North Newton, Kan., and just 21 years old when he first arrived on staff at Freeman Junior College and Academy as an instructor of English composition and literature, as well as the advisor of the Star, the student-run newspaper.

It was 1966 and Schmeckfest was just seven years old at the time, and over the course of his 28-year career at the school — including his final seven as Freeman Academy principal — Leroy saw the community’s annual festival grow rapidly.

His wife, Winifred, saw it, too. In fact, she played a major role in the volunteer-led effort, including that of president of the Freeman Junior College Women’s Auxiliary the year that a major blizzard all but shut down the final day of what was at the time a Thursday-Friday-Saturday event.

She doesn’t remember that the year was 1983 — only that it was “the year of the blizzard” — but she and Leroy both say that have fond memories of the school, the community and of Schmeckfest.

Forty-one years after that memorable blizzard — and 58 years after Leroy arrived in the community — the Saners were back.

“It was a wonderful time and I missed that a lot when we moved away,” says Winifred, who joined her husband to take in the 63th “festival of tasting” held on their old stomping grounds last week Friday and Saturday, March 15 and 16. “The volunteerism, being part of the activities, being with other people, all of it.”

“That was a very important, formative time in my life,” Leroy says of those early years in Freeman and the career in education that continued at the school through the 1993-94 school year, after which the couple left for Elkhart. “It was and is a great community and the school is an important part of that.”

The Saners are both retired but still active in their church, Hively Avenue Mennonite, where Leroy serves as church moderator and Winifred as a deacon. And they return for Schmeckfest when they can.

“It feels like home,” said Leroy.

It’s that appeal — to return to something that feels good — that has helped sustain Schmeckfest for more than six decades and contributed again to last week’s large crowds that gathered for the traditional meal, musical and various food and artisan demonstrations that harken back to the Germans-from-Russia heritage.

This fundraiser for Freeman Academy continues to work “because of a combination of things,” said Brad Anderson, who is in his seventh year on staff at Freeman Academy and second as head of school. “You have a lot of folks who are committed to seeing that tradition continue; and you have a very strong focus in this school — and in the community at large — on the arts.”

To the last point, he said, look no further than the buzz and popularity of the 2024 Schmeckfest stage production, “Shrek the Musical,” which he believes amped up the energy elsewhere on campus.

“I think it did,” he said. “Both days I was in the Schmeck Shoppe (the student-run food stand in Sterling Hall), and when the Country Kitchen opened at 1, there was a line out the door. “The energy carried over for those wanting to do all the other things, too, and were glad to be there.”

Among them was Ila Friesen, a Mitchell resident who grew up the Freeman community the daughter of Wilbur and LaVerna Friesen and graduated from Freeman Academy in 1965 and Freeman Junior College in 1967. On Friday, Friesen was inside the Country Kitchen stocking up on popular home-baked goods like kuchen and noodles — much different from her first Schmeckfest which was the first Schmeckfest of 1959.

“We couldn’t get in; we stood in line in the parking lot because it was full,” she said. “We ended up going to the restaurant downtown.”

Not being able to eat the Schmeckfest meal that first year didn’t sour the Friesen family in the years to come. They returned the next year and the year after that and the year after that. In fact, Ila says, she’s been to every single one.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” she said.

Large crowds again

The 2024 festival was a repeat of last year’s two-day celebration — a scaled-back Schmeckfest following the three-year break that resulted from Covid-19. Prior to that, it had been held over two consecutive weekends (from 2005 to 2019) and before that Thursday through Saturday (from 1973 to 2004).

Schmeckfest organizers say the decision to return to a single Friday-Saturday event is largely rooted in difficulty finding a volunteer workforce to handle the requirements of putting on such a large event, but the spirit of the festival remains.

And that spirit was on full display last week.

“The overall atmosphere the whole time felt fun — felt light,” said Nathan Epp, co-chair of this year’s Schmeckfest with Janet Balzer. “People were really enjoying themselves. I’m always amazed that, between 1 p.m. and when the show starts, there’s a couple hundred people who have gathered in Sterling Hall. Most of them are just sitting and talking and catching up. I myself talked to former students I haven’t seen in a while and former athletes I coached; there’s just a lot of that going on.

“It’s about as close to a homecoming as FA and FJC gets.”

And Epp says things went well, with large crowds attending the two marquee events, the meal and the musical. Just under 1,000 guests were served both Friday and Saturday nights, and “Shrek the Musical” played to sold out or nearly sold out crowds both nights of Schmeckfest, as well as for the Thursday evening performance.

Epp said Saturday’s show was a complete sell out — all 512 reserved seats and 100 general admission tickets were sold — while Friday and Thursday saw about 50 general admission tickets sold each night.

“That’s very affirming for anybody who is in leadership with Schmeckfest,” he said.

So is the demand for take-home foods available through sausage sales and in the Country Kitchen, where last year items sold out quickly much to the disappointment of those who didn’t get anything.

That was not the case this year. In fact, so many volunteers responded to last year’s shortage that, not only was there enough for everybody throughout the afternoon hours both days, there was food leftover — including one of the most sought-after items, cheese pockets.

A surplus of food was the case at sausage sales and in the dining room after the meal, as well.

“We don’t want that either,” Epp said. “We’re always at the mercy of who shows up and what they take.”

Elsewhere on campus

In addition to the opportunity to enjoy a meal and a show and purchase ethic foods, Schmeckfest offers other opportunities for its guests that harken back to the Germans-from-Russia heritage that immigrants brought with them when they settled in southeastern Dakota Territory 150 years ago.

Spotlight Demonstrations — live baking tutorials first introduced in 2019 — featured four different foods both afternoons of Schmeckfest: Poppyseed rolls by Susan Schrag, pumpkin rolls by Amy Waltner, apple tarts by LaVonne Brockmueller and cheese pockets by Lacey Friesen.

Freeman Academy’s vocal and instrumental department presented a standing-room-only concert each afternoon while, on Saturday, those affiliated with Freeman Academy offered a look back at the 120-year history of the school and its impact on the community.

And across the campus at Heritage Hall Museum & Archives, a mercantile featuring locally-made items for sale, a host of programming, live demonstrations and a vast collection of artifacts — including historic buildings — drew large crowds both days of the festival. (See the related story.)

“The museum was a busy place,” said Marnette Hofer, the museum’s executive director and archivist. “It is always great having visitors, but we kind of go all out at Schmeckfest. Plus, we have a newly revamped gallery to honor the journeys of the Germans from Russia who came to this community 150 years ago.

“We had good crowds, everything went well and we had fun doing it,” Hofer continued. “Guess you can’t ask for more than that!”

Behind the entire effort is a volunteer workforce that makes it happen, year in and year out.

Among them last weekend was Caden Barta, the 11-year-old son of Brandon and Jaime Barta of Sioux Falls who on Friday was working alongside his grandma, Jonetta Hofer, at the sausage demonstration. Caden’s job was to bring rings of sausage out of refrigerated storage, deliver them for weighing and pricing and then keeping the coolers stocked for guests to go through.

“I just keep doing that over and over,” he said.

And he was loving it.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It’s fun to see all the stuff they do here.”

Caden said he was unsure at first if he wanted to help at Schmeckfest.

“I have a dog at home and I was scared that he was going to be all alone all day, so I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do,’” he explained. “But then I finally decided that I was going to go because I’ve seen other people do it and it looks like fun and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.”

Les Rensink, who has had a leadership role in the sausage demonstration/sales for the past 25 years, says it’s great to see younger children get involved.

“We had the whole (Freeman Academy) elementary school in here the other day and we had fun with them,” he said, “and my grandkids are coming tomorrow and they’re going to want to do everything, because that’s the way we are.”

Winifred Saner said that intergenerational involvement has been critical since the beginning and will continue to be going forward.

“This is not just a one-generation thing,” she said. “My mother (Alice Kaufman) was also very, very involved and on the committee for many, many years. It’s one generation to the other that has to carry it on. Is that happening now? That’s the hope.”

Larger perspective

Brian Paff experienced his first Schmeckfest during his engagement to Maria Tschetter in 2006, whom he married later that summer.

“I’m pretty sure it was part of a prenuptial agreement,” he says. “I didn’t grow up in a small town so I didn’t have a good sense of things like the Turner County Fair or any of these other things that small towns can pull off. Maria had talked about it from early on in our friendship — this magical thing called Schmeckfest — but it wasn’t until I came here that I really experienced it.

“My eyes were wide open.”

Paff says he was struck by the quality of the musical, the number of volunteers and the expansive collective effort required to pull it all off.

“It’s just remarkable,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what musical they select or if you like sausage more than stewed beef; it’s just such a unique celebration that brings out the best in this community.

“The fact that it’s a fundraiser for Freeman Academy is obviously really important, but bigger than the money that is raises, it’s a celebration of community and togetherness — it doesn’t get better than that, does it?”

Brad Anderson looks at it from a larger perspective, as well.

“What was neat to see was students who had never experienced it before — particularly the boarding students,” he said. “They just really enjoyed it. They enjoyed the energy and meeting people and talking with people. I don’t think they ever figured that this little town could do something like this. It just goes to show what can be done here.”

And while Anderson believes strongly the cultural heritage Schmeckfest honors is key, it’s the excellence in the arts heritage that makes it particularly unique.

“I think Freeman Academy is a locus of that, but it’s not the only source or place where that resides; it’s the community at large,” he says. “I don’t think for a second that’s only an Academy thing, but I think the fact that the Academy is so committed to it is what makes that space and opportunity possible.

And I love seeing the Academy and the community working together, and it may be strange to talk about them as separate things, but I love to see that collaboration.”

“It’s been really rewarding to be involved in Freeman Academy and the Freeman community at large — to be able to see the ways in which this school and this community is nurturing growth and developing better citizens and better leaders,” says Paff.

“Seeing that all come together at an event like Schmeckfest is particularly gratifying, but it’s also neat to see that on a regular basis and help to make Freeman such a great place to live.”