Driveway Update - December 23

Let the video speak for itself...

Driveway Conditions Update - December 10

We cannot provide a complete driveway conditions update at this time, although we can provide some recent photos of the driveway and surrounding area. More information will be provided as it becomes available.

Elk Toss Entertainment - Breaking News

The Danville German Society is hard at work organizing the 75th Annual Elk Toss, Charity Auction, and Winter Festival. We're in the process of lining up some excellent entertainment. Tentatively, the musical lineup will include Van Wagner followed by an All-Star Band led by Mike (Mickel) McMonagle. More information to follow.

Elk Toss Date Set, and Subsequently Cancelled (Tentatively)

The 75th Annual Elk Toss, Charity Auction, and Winter Festival has been scheduled for Saturday, February 21, 2015. Then we saw this:




With the forecast of snow this week, we are tentatively cancelling the Elk Toss until we have more information. Check back soon for the latest Elk Toss news, including driveway conditions updates.

Van and Mike in Lancaster - August 12

We recently sent out the following email to DGS members, and wanted to post it on our blog for anyone who does not receive our emails. If you do want to receive our emails, contact us.

On Tuesday, August 12 at 7:00 pm, Van Wagner and Mike McMonagle will be performing acoustic music at Tellus 360 in Lancaster. We wanted to pass this on to Danville German Society members for several reasons:

1. The show is just about 6 months before the 75th Annual Elk Toss, Charity Auction, and Winter Festival (ETCAWF). It will serve as an official meeting of the DGS Lancaster Chapter, and a reminder that the Elk Toss is only 6 months away. More details about the Elk Toss will come later this fall.

2. Van and Mike have been DGS members since birth.

3. The show is free, although cash donations benefiting CWS-Lancaster will be accepted.

More information about the show can be found here: 

And more information about CWS-Lancaster can be found here.

 Thanks,

Karl

DGS Co-President

Franz the Artist

When I was very young, we went to the Scranton Museum of Art. There, I saw a woman standing in front of a painting, and she was actually crying. I don’t recall it being a sad painting. My mother leaned down to me and whispered, “See, the painting is so beautiful, it breaks her heart and makes her cry.”

This made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.

But then, I had not yet seen Franz Klingermann toss an elk.

Bears and Elk

The 75th elk toss is currently postponed due to bear sighting. We CAN NOT afford another "black bear at the beer keg" situation like we had in 1996:

Rick and Franz

Rick Victor still owns the house where he grew up outside of Scranton. The floor is dirt and you see bits of the sky as you look through the roof and the walls are as thin and brittle as graham crackers. But it still stands and Rick Victor comes by every so often to see it and to remember. His life is a miracle. That’s the thing he wants to remember. There was so little hope in that poor little suburb. Life inescapably led to the coal mines. Only his life did not…because of music.

The day he showed us the house there was a woman living there, and she is still there … she is a family friend and lives there for free. There is only one thing Rick Victor asks. She must not change things. This house must remain as it was because this house is what connects Rick Victor to a past he must remember. He was a chart-topping musician. He was a groundbreaking artist. He fathered 17 children (at last count). He is a hero to his people. He cannot accomplish all that he must do if he does not remember his past.

But even in this, the woman does not have to keep everything exactly the same. It is her home now.

“Right there,” Victor said as he pointed at a photo on the wall, “there used to be a picture of Jesus.”

The picture is now of Franz Klingermann.

Driveway Update - March 31

From the Wagner Farm:

"We got some snow yesterday. shamokin like half a foot. eagles mere 10-12". cancel elk toss?"

Fundraising Results

For the 2014 Elk Toss, Charity Auction, and Winter Festival (75th Year), we raised a total of $2000 and have donated that money to the following organizations:

The Gate House, Danville - $800
The Hope Fund of Penns Valley (Centre County) - $500
Lancaster County Conservancy Urban Greening program - $500
ClearWater Conservancy(Centre County) - $200

We also collected about two grocery carts full of non perishable food that was donated to the Danville-Riverside Food bank.

In addition to the money and food, 550 diapers were collected and donated to the Danville Area Diaper Bank.