Delaware Oktoberfest funds historic German cultural club

Why Should Delaware Care?
Delaware Saengerbund’s Oktoberfest has been an annual tradition since 1979 and raises crucial funds for the German cultural club. Originating as a singing society and safe haven for recent German American immigrants, 173 years later, Delaware Saengerbund offers a space for members to connect with each other and their heritage.

Ancient Teutonic shields and carpenters’ saws painted with countryside landscapes hang from the walls in the eclectic bar owned and operated by German cultural club Delaware Saengerbund.

The community center in Newark is crowded with knick-knacks: a stuffed pheasant, boot-shaped beer mugs, a club flag stitched with real gold and a statue of a fishing boy wearing painted-on lederhosen. 

The 20-acre property is mapped with hiking trails taken advantage of by Delaware Saengerbund’s Wandervögel club. The community center houses an event hall for performing traditional song and dance, a kitchen for preparing schnitzel and Black Forest cake, a library of German literature and a classroom for learning the language.

Every area of the community center is built around the original bar, called the “Bauernstube” because members of Delaware Saengerbund converted it from a barn in 1967. Several of the booths for drinking and communing were originally animal stalls. 

In line with that theme, the pride of the bar is the enormous cowbell hanging from the ceiling. Whoever tugs the deer hoof attached to the bell’s chain buys the next round.

Like clockwork, club member Carl Witt shuffled into the bar and took his seat when Delaware Saengerbund President Rudy Schock gave a raucous demonstration. Witt wasn’t in the community center that morning to drink, however — he was there to set up for Delaware Saengerbund’s annual Oktoberfest.

An annual club tradition since 1979, Oktoberfest returns this Friday through Sunday, Sept. 18 to 20. It will feature an opening parade replicating the festivals of Munich, carnival rides and traditional song and dance, including the North American debut of Bavarian folk band Brotzeitmusi.

It takes 4,000 pounds of potato salad, 14,000 wursts and 20,000 liters of draft beer to feed the 15,000 to 20,000 people who attend the Delaware festival annually, according to Schock. 

But most important of all are the roughly 700 volunteers, who have already started planning 2027’s Oktoberfest. 

The hardest part of planning, Witt explained, is “everything.” Oktoberfest is a Herculean effort that sucks blood, sweat and tears out of most of Delaware Saengerbund’s 950 members. 

But the toil is well worth it. Proceeds generated from Oktoberfest are the lifeblood of Delaware Saengerbund, allowing the club to keep the lights on at its community center and execute its mission of celebrating German culture year-round.

‘Drink and sing’

Delaware’s premier German club dates back to March 17, 1853, when 16 immigrants drinking in a Wilmington tavern begged its owner, Christian Krauch, to use the space for a choral singing club, or “saengerbund.”

“You get more than three Germans together, and they’re going to want to drink and sing,” joked Delaware Saengerbund Board Member Don Sturmfels.

Krauch agreed to the proposition, and though the club moved out of his tavern the following year, he maintained close ties with Delaware Saengerbund. He was named an honorary member and gifted its members two drinking horns hanging in the Baurenstube today. 

Delaware Saengerbund’s first permanent home was a four-story building on 4th Street in Wilmington, which the club converted into a “German Hall” in 1883. It was more than a choral practice space; it was also a cultural hub for the many clubs within Delaware Saengerbund and a place to stay for some German immigrants who had only recently arrived in America.

But that home for Delaware’s German Americans was razed in 1965, when the club sold the building to the Wilmington Housing Authority to make way for Interstate 95.

“They just came in and said, ‘We want your building. You’re out of here,’ and bulldozed it down,” Sturmfels said. 

‘Father Oktoberfest’

Delaware Saengerbund was without a permanent home until the club purchased the barn in Newark two years later. That was about seven years after the current president’s father, Simon Schock, joined the club at 21 years old.

“My dad said, ‘Why would I want to become a member? It’s just a bunch of old people.’ And then he joined, and then a lot of other younger people joined,” Rudy Schock said.

Simon Schock founded the public Oktoberfest event in 1979, inspired by St. Anthony’s Italian Festival in Wilmington. Many members refer to him as “Father Oktoberfest” for that reason.

Simon Schock had been a cabinet maker in Germany and immigrated with his parents and grandfather in 1958. He used his carpentry skills to pitch in building the Bauernstube and its many expansions.

“I was here as a kid. My dad was like, ‘I need you to get these boards.’ He put all the walls up,” Rudy Schock said inside the event hall. “My dad is 28, 29 years old. He’s working all day, then he’s coming to the club to work. … I don’t think we could do that today.”

Stones jutting out of the Bauernstube’s walls are etched with the names of the club members who helped build it. Simon Schock picked a stone near a window overlooking the property, while another club member, Adrien Olivier, purposely picked the tiniest stone he could find.

Over the years, four members of Delaware Saengerbund, including Simon Schock, have received The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, an award signed by the German president and bestowed to individuals for their service to the country.

The most recent to receive this honor was Edeltraut “Trudy” Gilgenast, the woman who nominated the three other Delaware Saengerbund members to receive the award.

“Nobody ever did one for her. I said, ‘She needs it,’” Rudy Schock said. “They won’t give it to you posthumously. She’s 95 now. I was calling the embassy every day, saying, ‘Look, how long is this going to take?’ It took a year and a half.”

Gilgenast’s time in the spotlight finally came in March, when members of Delaware Saengerbund traveled to Washington, D.C., so Jens Hanefeld, German ambassador to the United States, could present her with the award.

Sturmfels called receiving the award the culmination of “dedicating your life to the preservation of German heritage.”

“If it weren’t for people like that, this club would have rolled up and died years ago,” he said.

Camaraderie and cards

While Delaware Saengerbund originated as a haven for recent immigrants, today, most members are a few generations removed from their German roots, looking to reconnect with a culture their parents or grandparents were more familiar with. 

For example, both sets of Witt’s grandparents immigrated to the United States in the 1920s. They didn’t talk about their homeland much, and as a kid, Witt never asked them the burning questions he has now that they’re long dead: “How was your life in Germany? What did you do? What was the family like? What did you do for recreation? What did you do for work?”

Delaware Saengerbund helped Witt answer some of these questions. For example, by participating in the genealogy club, he learned that his great-great-grandfather fought for Germany during World War I, dying in Holland in 1914.

Although club members tend to be around retirement age, they often share German culture with younger generations. 

“I’ve got friends that are coming back,” Schock said. “It’s like, ‘Wow, I haven’t seen you in 20 years.’ And they’re like, ‘Life’s changed. I want my grandkids to experience it.’ So, they bring them to the Oktoberfest. Next thing you know, they’re here doing other events.”

Anyone can participate in Delaware Saengerbund as a supporting member, but only those with German heritage can apply to be an active member, meaning they can vote and run for the various leadership positions within the organization. 

That’s a far cry from the organization’s beginnings. For example, women were not allowed to be members until the 1950s.

But by becoming more inclusive, Delaware Saengerbund’s membership has blossomed. The club caps at 1,000 members, and Delaware Saengerbund reached that number when it reopened following the COVID pandemic.

While there are many activities within Delaware Saengerbund, the Bauernstube is the heart of the organization. 

A lot of stories are told within its walls, “some true, some false,” Shock said — especially when he plays a “miserable, lousy” German card game, Skat, with a group of friends.

“It’s got to be (made) by a German because every time he was losing, he probably added a new rule so he could win,” he joked.

Meanwhile, Sturmfels joined Delaware Saengerbund about 50 years ago and has stuck around for “the camaraderie.” That, and the beer.

“It’s not like going to a local bar, and all the guys sit there, and they curse at the TV. It’s not that kind of place,” he said. “We’re all brothers and sisters. It makes it a very kind place to be.”