Swiss Festival faithful get gold star for perfect attendance
Members of the Ohio Swiss Festival gold star perfect attendance club ride a float during the grand parade on Saturday, Sept. 28 in Sugarcreek. Each of these members has attended every single Swiss Festival since it first began in 1953.
The Ohio Swiss Festival, which takes place in Sugarcreek every fall, has remained loyal to its Swiss roots, Swiss cheese, yodeling and alphorn play, Swiss music, and Swiss garb.
As the annual Ohio Swiss Festival grand parade went down Main Street on Saturday, Sept. 28, toward the end of the parade was a float carrying a group of people who have never missed a Swiss Festival in its 67 years of existence.
Among those who have made the festival near and dear to their hearts for every single one of those 67 years were Martha Whelan Stucky, Margie Finzer Kaser, Maxine Boss, Paul Mueller, Carol Geckler and Shirley Schlabach, all of whom participated in the grand parade.
Whelan Stucky said in one of those first festivals her husband went up on the Ferris wheel and took a picture of the festival, and all you could see in the photo was a sea of people and rooftops. She said glancing down Main Street during the festival and seeing so many people brought that memory back.
Boss got involved with the festival when it first began because her in-law, Alfred Boss, was the cheesemaker at Union Cheese Company.
Boss was on the Union Cheese Company float in the very first parade, so this year’s participation in the grand parade brought her full circle during the 67 years.
“Back in the early days of the festival, it was all about the cheese, and it still is a great deal today,” Boss said.
Boss said even though she and her husband moved to Beloit, Ohio for 35 years, they never wavered in their faithfulness in returning to the Swiss Festival every fall.
“It was always a vacation time for us,” Boss said. “I always wanted to maintain that tradition of being here for the festival, so we always made it a point of being here. I have a lot of great memories from over the years, and it is always enjoyable to come here and see everyone again.”
Finzer Kaser came to Sugarcreek in 1953 as a 7-year-old. It was here she got to showcase her talent of tap dancing.
“I performed on stage here in 1953,” Finzer Kaser said. “My brothers had a band, the Finzer Band. One brother played the banjo, my dad played the piano, my other brother played the accordion, my grandpa Henry Finzer was the caller and played the harmonica, and my sister Shirley and I tap danced. That was my first exposure to the Swiss Festival, and it has been a part of my life ever since.”
For someone who loves music as much as Finzer Kaser does, she said it is easy to identify her favorite part of the festival. She still thoroughly enjoys the Swiss polka music that rings throughout the village during Swiss Festival weekend.
Of course she said the fried cheese and apple fritters are enjoyable as well.
“I still know a lot of the polka songs and a lot of the dance steps, although my feet don’t want to move like they used to,” Finzer Kaser said. “I still remember the song we first tap danced to was ‘Ain’t She Sweet.’ I still love the whole polka feel of the festival.”
Whelan Stucky is entrenched in the festival with roots that run deep. Her parents both hailed from Switzerland, and when they came to America, they settled in Sugarcreek.
“We have always had this deep connection with the Swiss,” Whelan Stucky said. “That is why this festival means so much to me.”
She said while she has been to Switzerland six times, she was fortunate enough to take her three girls and her granddaughter back to Switzerland in 2015, something that further enhanced their appreciation for their Swiss heritage.
Her memories of the festival are many, although she said she does miss one aspect of the Swiss Festival that disappeared years ago.
“I always enjoyed the Swiss picnic,” Whelan Stucky said. “That was always such a great time, and it made it easy to talk to people and reminisce about what was going on in our lives.”
Whether or not the gold star members of the Swiss Festival will reunite next year to ride in the grand parade is yet to be known, but if they are able, all of the ladies expressed an interest in being a part of it again.