Swiss Days opening rekindles friendships

Authored by Jim Langham on Jul 30, 2010

Adams County contractor Amos Schwartz sat leisurely on a bench enjoying the opening of Swiss Days activities reminiscing with Angela Rumschlag of Decatur about the time he assisted in moving the historical Wyneken House in northern Adams County. Rumschlag had been one of the leaders in helping organize that activity and Schwartz was one of the advisors and movers.
The special moment was representative of Schwartz’s impact on county and state history over the years. For Schwartz, it was also indicative of how people gather and reflect at the hometown festival.
This year’s Swiss Days is especially meaningful to Schwartz because his son, Mike, was the master contractor in the construction of the Swiss Clock Tower, which will be officially dedicated on Saturday evening.
“He’s (Mike) awfully glad that it is strong and standing like it is,” said Schwartz of the tower. “When we had some storms, he came up immediately and checked on it to make sure that everything was still good.”
Bruce Sprunger, who has enjoyed the entire history of Swiss Days, said that he believes that this year’s event will be especially meaningful because of the tower. But as in other years, Sprunger was walking the well-attended opening night because he enjoyed seeing old friends and former Berne residents who had come back for the festival.
“I come up here to see the people. I enjoy seeing friends and visiting with people I haven’t seen for awhile,” said Sprunger. “That’s the main reason why I like to attend, the friends.”
Berne Mayor John Minch alluded to the closeness of friendship when he made his remarks at the opening ceremony of this year’s Swiss Days. Minch was clad in a Swiss milking jacket that was presented to him by Hans Moser when he (Minch) and a delegation of local residents visited Switzerland last summer. “This is an authentic Switzerland milking jacket. I am proud to wear it,” Minch said to those who enjoyed gathered for the traditional opening. “This is the 39th year we’ve come together for Swiss Days to honor those who founded this community in 1852.
“The landscaping in the city has changed dramatically in the last year, with the construction of the Swiss Tower and Munsterberg Plaza,” continued Minch. “The dedication of this on Saturday evening is a very special part of this year’s Swiss Days.”
The traditions of the event were evident as those present enjoyed the playing of the Swiss alphorn, the salute to the king and queen court, Swiss National anthem, and the Swiss costume dance.
This year’s grand marshal honorees, Madelyn Wurster, Gretchen Lehman, and Charles Isch, indicated how honored and humbled they were to be recognized as such in their home community.
The evening then broke into a celebration of Swiss music and dancing.
“What beautiful weather to start things off,” said Berne’s Mike Poulson. “Things are looking great. This is going to be a very good year. There’s a lot of excitement over the beautiful clock tower. A lot of people are in town; a few class reunions will be going on around town.”
“One hundred and fifty years from now, that clock tower will look just like it does now,” said Schwartz. “People will look back at this generation and remember how we did all that we could to preserve the Swiss tradition.
“The only thing that makes me sad is that Gaylord Stuckey (former Berne mayor) isn’t here for this,” continued Schwartz. “He was my close friend and we would get together on winter nights and play cards. He was so excited about this day. He would be so happy to see this.”
“The weather is beautiful; Swiss activities are going strong and there’s lots of people in town,” said Doyle Lehman. “Swiss Days is here again.”

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