Festival conceived in bar turns 40

It started when Dan Birenbaum, Richard Uselding and Dean Wester were discussing area festivals over cocktails after work at the DePast House in 1987.

Port Washington has Fish Day, Cedar Grove has Holland Fest and Milwaukee has ethnic festivals, they said.

They thought Belgium should have one too.

“What’s wrong with Luxembourg Fest?” Wester said.

It turns out nothing. That conversation wasn’t just shooting the breeze over drinks.

The trio got to work soon after, connecting with local movers and shakers Bea Krier and Don “Peanuts” Schommer, who, like the three, had Luxembourg roots. They comprised the first Luxembourg Fest Committee.

The first fest was held that year, and it’s still going strong today. This week, the Village of Belgium will host the 40th annual Luxembourg Fest.

The fest began as a one-day event largely centered around a Mass that drew an estimated 800 people.

Birenbaum remembers parish members transporting chairs from each of the area’s three churches for the service.

After the Mass, Uselding said, “the church was changed into a tavern.”

Mustreipen, a favorite blood sausage among Luxembourgers, was served, along with fried potatoes and onions.

Emil and Martha Strauss Ries were named the first duke and duchess and rode around on a pony-drawn cart driven by Orville Arendt.

Krier’s nephew Kevin Wester, who was on summer break from the seminary in Milwaukee, was already into genealogy — he has written books on the area’s history and today runs a travel company and helps people obtain dual citizenship with Luxembourg — and set up an honored family exhibit in the municipal garage of Community Park.

“For anyone who knew Aunt Bea Krier, she was super persistent, and she really rallied people to bring their family treasures to put on display,” Wester said.

The fest was originally called Luxembourg Fest of Belgium, he said, which focused on Luxembourg families in the Town of Belgium and those with roots in three churches — Holy Cross, St. Mary’s in Lake Church and St. Nicholas in Dacada.

Food was served by community groups such as the Melvin Wester American Legion Post 412, Belgium Lions and the fire department. Some people had Luxembourg currency, but they couldn’t buy food with it because nobody knew the exchange rate.

The Freistadt Alte Kameraden Band performed music.

“It was a well-rounded family festival,” Uselding was quoted as saying in the Aug. 13, 1987, Ozaukee Press. “People enjoyed the music. More of the older generation seemed to enjoy the day and stayed to socialize. That was part of the purpose, to have those people enjoy their heritage.”

Uselding, now a member of the older generation, still enjoys the fest.

A parade featured antique farm machinery. Birenbaum remembers a threshing machine getting wrecked when it fell off the road onto the shoulder while being transported to the fest.

The event soon began to draw from more than the immediate area.

“Within a few years, a lot of people from Luxembourg came. It was such an honor in Luxembourg. That’s why they built this building here,” Uselding said while standing inside the Luxembourg American Cultural Center. The center was built in 2007 using stone from the Mamer-Hansen barn that stood in its place.

Groundbreaking for the building helped stretch the fest into a weekend event, Luxembourg American Cultural Society and Center Marketing and Membership Engagement Coordinator Mileana Burmesch said.

In 2007, the first Luxembourg Fest Cultural Forum was held, and it has continued ever since.

Kevin Wester served as executive director of the LACS and asked Krier and Uselding in 2012 if the organization should take over the event’s management. They agreed, and the fest’s name changed to Luxembourg Fest of America.

It was Wester’s idea to start the treipen-eating contest, billed as the world’s largest for mustreipen.

“I thought if Coney Island people can have a hot dog-eating contest, why can’t we Luxembourgers have a treipen-eating contest,” Wester said. “To me, it was a merger of the two cultures, Luxembourg and America, into one event.”

There were concerns over the event flopping or someone choking to death, but the contest instantly became an instant hit.

“I am personally very proud that that was one of my personal contributions to the history of the fest,” Wester said. “Now, with that being said, Luxembourgers gave me feedback that they think it is disgusting and they don’t even eat treipen in Luxembourg anymore.”

To wash down the sausage, Ansay International also started serving Bofferding, a Luxembourg beer, the same year the contest started.

Uselding remembers his uncle Art making the sausage in the basement of his grocery store.

“The whole store smelled,” he said.

While the fest has expanded and changed, its core mission has remained constant.

“It brings the pride in our heritage,” Uselding said.

“It brings the community together,” Wester said.

“All three parishes were involved from day one,” Birenbaum said.

The three are technically still on the committee since it never dissolved, but they aren’t active participants. They do, however, attend every fest, billed as the world’s largest Luxembourg family reunion.

“We hope it keeps going,” Birenbaum said. “I never thought it would go that long.”

“I never thought we’d be seeing this for 40 years,” Uselding said.

Wester said, “It’s amazing what can be done in a bar.”