By Laura Mazur
Community Post
First there was Dancing with the Stars.
But last Tuesday's Fasching Fest brought new entertainment--Dancing with the Germans.

Almost 500 people were served a German fare to go along with festive frolicking at the Knights of Columbus Hall, in Minster, during the German Mardi Gras celebration.
“This was the greatest turn-out we ever had. We were caught by surprise,” said Jim Coons, executive director of the Southwestern Augalize County Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the event.
Fasching Fest annually falls on “Fat Tuesday,” or the day before Ash Wednesday and the onset of Lent. Many times Lent starts at the end of February, however, when potential attendees of the festival would be busy with other things in their schedules. Toward the end of February, high school basketball tournaments start, as well as regular monthly meetings are held for some community organizations, taking away attendance numbers of the festivities. With Lent's start at the beginning of the month, schedules were open for activities this year, therefore bringing in the unexpected crowds.
Coons said, “I was disappointed we were unable to serve everyone in the way that we would have liked, but I'm thankful that everyone who attended was gracious and understanding and enjoyed the event nonetheless.”
Last year, about 150 meals were left over because of the lower numbers in attendance. Usually, the food line serves about 350 guests, but last year, only around 250 attended. Coons said he took this into perspective, wondering if this served as an indicator to end the festival and took an average of the two numbers to start preparing for this year.
But then as the chamber started to plan for this year's event and get the word out, the office started to receive a number of calls from area people, as well as out-of-towners, asking about the festival. He started to wonder again, this time if there indeed would be enough of food, gaging by the volume of calls, and worked with the staff of the Wooden Shoe to coordinate food amounts.
“I'm tickled we had the turn-out we did that I feel this is a go-head for next year,” said Coons.
Besides the German food and fellowship, a new festival feature, a polka contest, also brought in merry dancers.
Members of the Ohio Polka Boosters judged the contest. This group follows Bette's Polka Band, the music makers of the evening. Judges were Marty and Marie Schmitmeyer, of Chickasaw, and Lawrence and Rita Tebbe, of Wapakoneta. Past President Ed Menker, and his wife, Barb, of Pleasant Hill, coordinated the judging.
The Schmitmeyers said they were judging on steps, harmonizing with the beat of the music, appearance and dress and attitude.
“The whole ball of wax,” laughed Marty Schmitmeyer, who met his wife at a dance. “It's good for your health and you meet the greatest people.”
Marie Schmitmeyer agreed, “We've met so many great people. The music makes people happy.”
Winners of the contest danced away with chamber gift certificates for their participation. In third place were Dorothy and Joe Wuebker, of Minster, winning $20 in chamber certificates. First dancers-up were Paul and Jeanette Lennartz, of St. Marys, who went away with $30 in certificates. And Doug and Denise Jutte, of Minster, stole the contest and won $50 in chamber gift certificates.
“We've been coming for a couple of years. We heard the contest advertised and thought we'd try it,” said Doug Jutte.
Norma Schlater, of Fort Loramie also won the 50/50 raffle of $165 for the night.
People came from near and far for Fasching festivities. Fred and Art Smith came from Marysville to get their dancing groove on.
“We like to go to different places. I have a map marked of more than 50 cities in Ohio where we have danced. I looked and we hadn't been here yet,” said Art Smith.
The Smiths have also been followers of Bette's Polka Band for the past two to three years.
“We like to know where she's at and follow,” said Smith.
Fred Smith said they have been enjoying doing a variety of dancing for the past 10 years, however. His wife teaches line dancing at the local YMCA in Marysville, knowing between 150 and 200 dances. Now that the two have been to Minster, they look forward to returning for future festivals with Bette.
Next year, Coons plans to have more tables and chairs, beverages and possibly a different arrangement for food to be prepared for the crowd, finding that it is better to have leftovers than disappoint hungry people.