Step into the past this coming Saturday and Sunday at the Folkfest put on by the Heritage Society at the Heritage Village on Churchhill Drive. The whole event kicks off with the annual children’s masked parade, known as Kindermasken (children’s masks) or the old way, Kindermaskenball (children’s masked dance). Doesn’t New Braunfels just love parades?

Children like to dress up and parade around and they were doing this in Germany long before the settlers came here in 1845. The immigrants brought the tradition with them and supposedly Hermann Seele organized the local event here in 1857. The reason for children parading goes way back too. Children represent new life and Spring represents a new year. Although it has changed over the years, the tradition lives on.

“Kindermaskenball: Past and Present” written by Rosemarie Leissner Gregory and Myra Lee Adams Goff can be purchased at the Sophienburg. The book illustrates, through photographs, the changes in the tradition from the beginning to the 1920s, the war years and up to the present.

This year children are asked to line up at 9:15 Saturday around the Main Fire Station and march towards the Plaza then to First Protestant Church. Two NBISD middle school bands will march. (Parade participants are invited to Folkfest where judging of costumes will be held. Each will receive one pass and one adult pass)

This is the 27th Folkfest put on by the Heritage Society. The setting at the Village is perfect with its beautiful wildflowers and historic buildings. There is something for everyone and especially children.

Ladies, this is what you can experience: Imagine getting up early to feed and milk the goats and feed the chickens. You fix biscuits in a small cottage that could easily be 100 degrees inside. Why do they taste better than canned biscuits? Now you sit down and make lace for the one dressy dress that you own. Look how the handwork is piling up. Let the kids help you wash clothes in a wash tub using lye soap on an old wooden scrub board. By the way, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Ferdinand Lindheimer Chapter, will be there to help you with your genealogy. Were your ancestors in Texas during the Republic?

There is plenty for you men to do. First there is a chuck wagon cooking demonstration. That will come in handy when you make biscuits, cobbler and stew outside. Go by the Texian tents where the re-enactors are camping out. There are also Civil War re-enactors. What a show they put on with their canons that they really do fire. How about learning about native plants and you might as well learn how to make adobe bricks. The blacksmith demo is really interesting since I’ll bet not too many of you do that any more.

Now comes the real highlight of Folkfest, children’s activities. Kids, you can learn how to make a kite and then most important how to fly it. Of course there are the old favorites, candle dipping and the making of clay pots or whatever. You can learn how to make arrowheads and play games like sack races, hoops and graces, lassoing and stick pony races. There’s a bird feeding activity where you make a bird feeder using peanut butter. And for you little girls, you can dress up (clothes provided) and go to a real tea party.

On Sunday, Ravenstar will teach you how to identify birds and the Gorge Preservation Group of Canyon Lake will have an archeological dig and just maybe you will find a little dinosaur.

Both days there will be entertainment like Ballet Folklorico and Kindertanzen. There will be music and food of all sorts. You can see things like snakes. No, they won’t just be crawling around, they will be caged. You can shop for antiques and collectibles and tour the buildings on the grounds. What a great way to learn about the past and have fun at the same time.

All of our historical museums like Heritage, Sophienburg, Conservation, Railroad, plus the County and City Historical groups are doing such a good job of keeping our history alive. Hats off to them all!

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The book, “Landa Park, Its Springs and Its People” by Rosemarie Leissner Gregory and Arlene Krueger Seales, is now available to pre-order. The New Braunfels Parks & Recreation Department and the Friends for the Preservation of Historic Landa Park, a non-profit organization, honor the 80^th anniversary of the acquisition of Landa Park by presenting this 438 page book, including two companion volumes, “Native American Artifacts, Comal Springs” and “The Comal Springs, Landa Park.”

The book begins with the history of the area millions of years ago up to the present. In other words, everything you ever wanted to know about Landa Park. Artwork and thousands of color and historic photographs paint a picture of what the park was and is now.

It’s difficult to do justice to a book like this in a review, so I chose the last small section of the book that recalls personal recollections of the park by individuals and what meant the most to them. Over 75 people were asked those questions. If you have lived here awhile, you will relate to their recollections. If you’re not from here, you will be surprised at a lot of what you read.

In all of the stories, some subjects emerged over and over. I am assuming that these subjects were the most important to the individuals. It’s a little bit like being asked, “In one word, what did Landa Park mean to you?” Names are in the book, but only a few in this column.

Over and over, the spring-fed swimming pool came up as the most memorable spot. I recall that this pool was a byproduct of Meriwether’s damming up the lake and digging the channel. The area of the swimming pool was part of the old channel. Harry Landa later created the pool as part of his tourist business. It has been a meeting place for friends and the slanted grassy place next to the old bath house was always covered with sun bathers on towels. Participants recollected that once you learned how to swim, your parents would let you loose in the pool.

One name that will be mentioned here because it was repeated so often was lifeguard Tommy Ortiz. He meant more to swimming youth than even he can imagine. He taught hundreds of children to dive with his own diving ability. His encouraging personality inspired many young swimmers. Imagine this: Ortiz would allow children to climb on his back and he would then proceed to jump off the high diving board.

During the summer, swimming was a daily experience for city kids. The pool took the place of air conditioning that they didn’t have and with so much time in the pool, it became inevitable that children made up their own games. This was true in the spring-fed pool because it had two rafts and the game, “King of the Raft” with the winner being the last one remaining on top of the raft was invented. I remember this as a pretty tough game. The other game was “Rag Tag” where the winner was hiding under the raft so as to not be caught.

In later years, the name Bud Dallmann surfaced. Organizing the first Aquatic Club in the spring-fed pool, the club eventually moved mainly over to the Olympic Pool. He was a great inspiration to swimmers of all ages for many years.

Bucky Warwick Smith was remembered for her teaching of synchronized swimming and organizing the Miss Texas Pageant. This was a big event in New Braunfels and her synchronized swimmers put on a spectacular show in the spring-fed pool.

Water played an important part in collective Landa Park memories. Most remember swimming, wading, boating, fishing and even the drying up of the springs and Landa Lake in the 1954 drought.

Another word mentioned in the collection of memories was “dancing” and of course, dance floors. The wooden covered dance hall that was located between the Founder’s Oak Tree and the concrete dance slab was the foundation of many memories. Dancing stories, particularly during World War II told of entertaining soldiers stationed at San Antonio bases.

Several local bands were mentioned that played on the dance slab, particularly those that played for the public dances around the big oak tree. Some types of dances mentioned at the wooden dance hall were the Hokey Pokey, Mexican Hat Dance and Herr Schmidt. Who remembers the local band, “The Trackers” of the 60s entertaining the younger crowd?

By far the most single dance event mentioned was the Kindermaskenball. After the parade downtown, participants would stop at Bock Motor Company where, over the years, thousands of Coca Colas were given by Ben Bock to the thirsty paraders. Then they would walk on to Landa Park. Many remember the wooden dance hall being the location of dancing during the day and the dance slab being the location at night. The families would picnic and sometimes go home during the day. At night they would come back for the ever popular Grand March.

All sorts of celebrations were mentioned like July 4, birthday parties, and several New Braunfels anniversaries, especially the 1946 Centennial Celebration. Some remembered the 1926 Venetian Carnival on Landa Lake that they had heard of from their grandmothers.

New Braunfels has always been a sports-following town and so it was natural that many had in their memory bank the New Braunfels Tigers, a semi-pro team whose field was located where the Olympic Pool is now. Names like Dizzy Dean who was in the military at Ft. Sam Houston, pitched and became the most valuable player for 1934 in the pros. Also, spring training for the Minneapolis Millers took place in Landa Park.

Some bemoan the tearing down of old buildings like the bath house built by the WPA. The old meri-go-round and the spinning top in the spring-fed pool became too dangerous to keep. Many remember nature at its finest: the snowstorm, trees, and the glass-bottom boat on the lake. This column is a small smattering of the information that is in just one section of the 438 pages.

Many people were involved compiling this book, but all in all, the main writers and coordinators were Rosemarie Leissner Gregory and Arlene Krueger Seales. This is a collection of history and photographs well worth the price. Pre-ordering at a discount may be done now by calling 830-625-3186 between 2-5pm or using www.friendsforlandapark.org . When a book is ordered and paid for now, it will be ready to be picked up on Monday, May 2 at the Landa Haus at 360 Aquatic Circle in Landa Park between 2-7pm.

That same day books may be purchased at full price. Check the Friends for Landa Park web-site for more information.

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