The Heidelberg Band

I’ve never been one to go to the local picnics or festivals. I always found something a little cliché about them. Maybe it was the little kids running around that made me feel too old to be there, or maybe it was because I was doing something else that night, or maybe it was the fact that I wasn’t 21, and couldn’t drink. I’ll let you pick the real reason.

Either way, I went to the St. Francis Picnic on Saturday.

I wasn’t feeling particularly good, nor was I feeling particularly bad. It was just one of those days where you want to relax and sleep the day away. I made my way into the picnic, in my black “Local Q” t-shirt, realizing I was without my shy friend that I usually mention. As I walked in, I really couldn’t tell where the band I was supposed to be shooting was. I got there at 7 p.m. and Raised on Radio hadn’t started playing yet. I was looking for The Heidelberg Band, and all I saw singing on the stage were a bunch of men dressed in German-style folk dress with beer mugs in their hands playing instruments and singing. I was under the impression I was looking for a hard-core rock band. Confused, I kept walking aimlessly through the crowd of partying parents and wild children.

So I continued on my search for the band. I was getting some pretty odd looks, as some people aren’t familiar with The Local Q yet. So when I decided to interview two sisters, who were about seven and 10 years old, for the website and I had to tell their parents, “Yeah, I’m interviewing your children for an entertainment website on the internet,” which didn’t sound too safe. They told me they were from Elgin Ill., and that’s when I realized they would obviously have had no clue what the website was, so thank goodness for press passes. Although they never gave me the impression that they felt that way, I still commend them for their parenting, and I have to say sorry that I couldn’t use their children’s interviews because they were so short. Either way, Abby and Kassidy, you two were great!

Dreasler

I eventually found my interviews, and ran into some old friends that I hadn’t seen in years and took in all the festivities. There were a lot of people there and the food smelled great. Not to mention there were beer tents everywhere. My first thought, OK, I’m not a beer drinker. I’ve only had beer a few times in my life, and I’ve always heard the saying, “it’s an acquired taste,” I don’t know how I could ever “acquire” that taste, because to me beer tastes like regret and bad decisions. I won’t drink it. But I did manage to find one little margarita tent, so for all the non-beer drinkers out there, which didn’t seem like many, we were saved by the singular margarita tent in a mass of beer trucks. I was starting to change my mind about the pre-conceived notion I had about local picnics and festivals. This wasn’t a kiddie carnival. This was parental play time, and on top of it, the weather was beautiful, it couldn’t have been better.

Eventually, I heard the announcement that the German band playing on stage was indeed the Heidelberg Band. So it was apparent I hadn’t done my research. The men of the band were done playing, and off mingling to the side. I decided to make my way through and ask for an interview. As it turned out, the member who gave the interview, Jeff Schuecking, knew my family and my grandparents. I don’t know why I was surprised, it’s Quincy. He was very nice, and his band even fired their piano player that night to have me play in the band. Not really, but the offer was out there. They had their beer mugs and were drinking away, when one of the members had come back with some cups of beer, and offered me one. Even though I don’t drink beer, I thanked the member for the beer and took part in a toast for the band. Yes, I took a sip. It wasn’t that bad, but you won’t catch me with a beer in my hand any time soon.

After I was done mingling with the Heidelberg Band, I made my way back to my car and started my drive home, and then got a text from a friend who wanted to go to the picnic that night. Like I said earlier, I was never one to go to these type of things, but I did end up going back later when my age group was there, and let’s just say, the one margarita tent was my savior, and I will be looking forward to Junefest next Saturday!

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Jenny Dreasler