Sommerfest 2014

The Central States Fair and the German Tent opens and 3:00 pm today.  Plenty of fun on "tap".  Tent admission after 6:00 pm.  Rick Borger's band will be playing nightly beginning at 7:00 pm. The Narren from New Ulm will be here this weekend, so stop in and have some German Food, beer, dancing and wholesome fun!!

General Membership Meeting

The Rushmore German Club General Membership Meeting is scheduled for July 19, 2014 (Saturday).  The meeting will begin at 6:00 pm at the IBEW Hall on East St. Patrick Street

Annual Picnic

The Rushmore German Club annual picnic will be Sunday, June 22, at Happy Holiday Campground at 8900 S Hwy 16 (across from the Reptile Gardens).  Set up at Noon; lunch at 1:00.  Members bring a side dish or dessert to pass.

May 17, 2014 General Membership Meeting

The May 2014 General Membership meeting for the Rushmore German Club will be held on Saturday, May 17 at 6pm at the IBEW Labor Hall located on 922 E. St. Patrick Street.

The 2014 Sommerfest Committee will meet at 5pm to discuss and finalize proposals for the membership to consider regarding prices of beer and drinks.  Please join us if you're interested.

Sommerfest 2014 - The Narren Are Coming!!

They are the “Relatives everybody has, but nobody wants to claim.”   They're funny looking, dance in the aisles, and bring the party with them everywhere they go!  
The traditional German dance troop from New Ulm is confirmed to join us for opening weekend of Sommerfest on August 15 and 16, 2014.  We're excited that they're joining us and we hope you'll make plans to join us too!  

Sommerfest 2014 is going to be great!

Follow the Narren Here!

Prepare yourself....Sommerfest is next week!

We hope you've got your polka shoes polished and your beer steins ready, because the 2013 Sommerfest begins on Friday, August 16th!

We will have a ceremonial keg tapping, delicious Schell beer, and none other than Rick Borger and the Average German Band playing all week. Be sure to join the fun!

PROST!!

General Membership Meeting - Saturday, May 18 @ 7pm

The May General Membership meeting for the Rushmore German Club will be held on Saturday, May 18 at 7pm at the IBEW Labor Hall located on 922 E. St. Patrick Street.

RGC Membership Social - Saturday, April 20

All members are welcome to join the Rushmore German Club for our April Membership Social at 5pm on Saturday, April 20 at Sam and Louie's on Mt. Rushmore Rd in Rapid City. See you there!

RGC meeting POSTPONED

The German Club meeting for this evening has been POSTPONED due to the weather. We intend to reschedule it for next week Saturday, March 23 at 7pm. Confirmed details will be forthcoming. Stay safe this evening and enjoy the snow!

General Membership meeting--POSTPONED

The March membership meeting of the Rushmore German Club will be held on Saturday, March 16 at 7pm at the IBEW Hall (922 1/2 E. St Patrick St). This is located behind the AFL/CIO building across from Boyds Drug store.


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REMINDER: Design ideas for the 2013 Sommerfest logo will be presented and decided by the membership at this meeting. Any member wishing to present a design idea is encouraged to do so. No fancy artwork is required, just a concept is fine. We'll have the experts perfect it later.

ALSO: Dues will need to be paid by members before April 1. If you haven't paid for 2013, please be sure to do so!

General Membership meeting--Saturday, Jan 19th

Please join the German Club's first general membership meeting of 2013! Some of the items we will be discussing will be the results of the recent board retreat, introduction of our new board members and their positions, and asking for volunteers to sit on the various standing committees we have throughout the year, such as nomination, social, Sommerfest, and trip committees.

WHERE:  International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO building, 922 ½ E. St. Patrick Street, Rapid City, S.D.
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RGC member Christmas party!

Just a reminder that this years' Christmas party for members will be at 12:30 (or so) on Saturday, December 8th at the Alpine Inn in Hill City. Be sure to save room for their delicious desserts!

Additionally, we'll be collecting care packages for Veterans as we've done every year. Suggested items are deodorant, lotion, socks, card games, sweets, movies...pretty much anything you think someone might like if they had to spend their Christmas at the Fort Meade Veteran's Hospital. The staff at the VA request that any items donated should not contain any alcohol (so no aftershave or mouthwash).

An afternoon of Brahms

Karen Psiaki, soprano singer, and Pianist James ('Jim') MacInnes will be presenting an afternoon of music by famed German composer Johannes Brahms.

Hailing from the Rapid City area, the talented duo share a love of German culture, and each of spent time in ther youth studying or working in Hamburg, the city where Johannes Brahms was born.

They are presenting a program of Brahms piano music and songs next Sunday afternoon in Rapid City at Tuscan square at 2:00pm.  Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under.

We would be delighted to share this music with as many German lovers as possible. The songs will be sung in German with translations and notes provided to make them understandable to all.

We hope to see you there!

UPDATE: Sommerfest critique--Saturday, Sep. 22nd

Club Members are invited to attend the Sommerfest critique to be held 6pm on Saturday September 22 at the IBEW Hall, 922 1/2 Saint Patrick St.

Food and beverages will be provided by the club.  Also, bus trip info will be available.

Hope to see you there!

Updated 9/11/12

2012 Sommerfest Begins!

Ein Prosit! This year the Rushmore German Club will celebrate their 40^th Anniversary and their 30^th anniversary of their annual Sommerfest German Tent at the Central States Fair.

This year’s Sommerfest officially opens on Friday, August 17 with a keg tapping ceremony at 8pm and performances throughout the evening by a traditional German folk acting troupe from New Ulm, MN called the Narren. The Narren are a preserved part of old German folklore, wearing colorful clothing and large wooden masks with grotesquely exaggerated features and unique personalities.  The Narren are described as “the relative everyone has but nobody wants to claim,” and their mischievous actions make sure spirits are high. 

The New Ulm Narren will perform at the Sommerfest on August 17 and 18 from 7pm to 10pm.

Read more about the Narren here!

This year’s Sommerfest will feature live music from North Dakota’s Marvin and the Moonlighters on each night from Friday, August 17 to Monday August 20.  Rick Borger and the Average German Band will close out the week playing nightly from Tuesday until Saturday, August 25.  The bands will perform nightly from 7pm to midnight.

Holy Moly, we're halfway through August already!

You know what that means...Sommerfest!
The fun starts Friday the 17th!

Next General Membership meeting--May 19

The next general membership meeting will be on Saturday, May 19th at 7:00 p.m. at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers building located at 922 ½ E. St. Patrick Street, directly across from Boyd's Drug
For members that have not been there, it is a blue building sits in the back part of the parking lot and there is a sign next to the street that says AFL/CIO. 

We will be holding an election for an interim board member due to a resignation.  

Hope to see everyone there!!!

April happenings

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

There will be a Social at the Dakota Thyme restaurant on Friday, April 20, 2012.  Dakota Thyme is located at the renovated downtown Main Street Square marketplace, facing the parking ramp.
Meet there between 5:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. and we will order off the menu.  
The calling committee should be calling everyone with more details.


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Furthermore, The Apolda Sister City is having their 2nd Annual Pfannkuchen (pancake) Fest at the VFW, 420 Main St. in Rapid City on Sunday, April 29th from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.  The cost is $5 for 11 years old and up and $3 for 6-10 years old and Free for under 6.  Menu includes pancakes, sausage links, ham, juice, water and coffee.  Tickets will be available at the door or can be purchased from any board member in advance.  For more info contact: Deb Tieszen at 605-390-2772.

Christmas Party tonight!

Just a reminder that the Christmas party will be tonight, Saturday December 3rd at 5pm in the Radisson hotel off I-90. Don't forget to bring your veterans' gifts!

Join us at the 1st annual Bierbörse at Main St. Square October 15th!

The Rushmore German Club is teaming up with Main St. Square and the Ale Riders homebrew club at the 1st annual Bierbörse (Beer Market) located at the newly opened Main St. Square from 1:30 pm until 10pm.

So what's a Bierbörse? Basically, this is a beerfest, and you can't have a fest without some Germans!  So come on down and try over 60 beers, as well as see a demonstration of beer brewing by the Ale Riders. There will be polka from 4-8, and a homebrew judging competition.  There will be FREE sampling of homebrews, as well as a VIP section where you can sample many beers.

If there are any members that want to help out, please contact Andy Marso and he'll fill you in on the details or send us an email at rushmoregermanclub@gmail.com.

There are a limited amount of tickets, which cost $25 prior to the event, and $30 the day of.  Andy can sell you tickets, or you can get them via paypal at the site listed below.

More information here

The Rapid City Bierbörse Facebook page

See you there!