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 The cider will be a featured drink at the Germanfest to be held
on Saturday at the St. John’s United Church of Christ.
Marilyn Armbrust, volunteering for the Oasis, said that the freshly
made beverage is very popular. She noted that last year, Ewald and
his team of volunteers squeezed out 11 gallons of cider, but on
Germanfest day, they ran out by 1 p.m.
This year Ewald was shooting for 25 gallons, but Armbrust said she
wasn’t sure they would have enough apples to make that much. She
also noted that even while these apples were being pressed, there
were volunteers out gathering more, in hopes they would come close
to their 25 gallon goal.
The process of making the cider is not a complicated one, though it
does involve quite a bit of physical labor.
Volunteer Donna Kessinger was busy sorting and combining apples for
the cider. She said that the donation of apples included several
varieties from several locations. Her goal was to mix the varieties
in batches for the press so that the cider from one bucket to the
next would be consistent in flavor.
When the apples were ready for the press, Ewald with help from Wayne
Mara and Armbrust, poured the fruit into a grinder box. The grinder
is operated with an electric motor, which made that part a bit
easier. When the bucket below the grinder was full, Ewald mounted a
wooden lid on top of it, then tightened down the corkscrew against
the wood.
From then on the making of cider is all about brute force. As Ewald
cranked on the handle, the lid was pushed down inside the bucket. As
the force increased inside the bucket, juice from the apples ran out
a spigot at the bottom.
When the ground apples have been thoroughly pressed out, the screw
is cranked back up, and the remaining pulp in the bucket is dumped
into the trash. Then the process is repeated on another batch of
apples.
Cider collected from the spigot was then poured through cheesecloth
to catch any “lumps”, into five-gallon buckets. The buckets were
then taken inside the Oasis for storage until Saturday. This year
is the 15th event for the Germanfest. The fundraiser event started
out as being solely for raising support for missionary programs, and
local church projects for St. John’s. When the Oasis building
downtown burned in 2013, the organization made St. John’s its home
while its new location was being remodeled. At that time, the church
decided to partner with the Oasis and provided that organization
with a portion of the fundraising proceeds for their new facility.
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Now that the new senior center is up and running, the church
and Oasis have decided to maintain their partnership in the
Germanfest. In order to offer this highly popular fall event, it
takes a large number of volunteers each year. Those volunteers
are now provided by both the Oasis and St. John’s members.
In the days ahead of the festival there are a number of
activities that take place. The Wayne Conrady family provides
the potatoes for the German potato salad. Annually the festival
calls for about 400 pounds of potatoes. Members of the church
then take an allotment home with them for the peeling.
There is one day then set aside at the church for the making of
the potato salad. The church and Oasis also make the well known
and loved apple strudel. The delectable dessert made in mass
requires volunteers for making the pastry, volunteers for the
peeling of apples, and volunteers for the mixing of ingredients
and baking of the dessert.
On Germanfest day, volunteers are needed to cook the bratwurst,
red cabbage, and sauerkraut. Then more volunteers are needed to
work on the serving line as hundreds file through for the
authentic German meal each year.
The full menu this year will include the brats, German potato
salad, sauerkraut, red cabbage, applesauce, and choice of apple
strudel, German chocolate cake or angel food cake complete the
meal. Drinks will include the fresh, locally made apple cider;
lemonade, tea and coffee. Serving times are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In addition to food, there will be a 50/50 drawing and bake sale
to benefit the Oasis, and the Alley Kats Polka Band will perform
throughout the day.
This year the event will be held at St. John’s United Church of
Christ, located on Eight Street in Lincoln. Next year the event
will be held at the Oasis Senior Center located at 2810
Woodlawn.
[Nila Smith]
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