Grace Fest celebrates German heritage in Lutheranism

Ryan Pivoney/News Tribune photo: 
Caleb Stahlman, 7, practiced his cornhole skills Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Grace Lutheran Church’s second annual Grace Fest in Holts Summit.
Ryan Pivoney/News Tribune photo: Caleb Stahlman, 7, practiced his cornhole skills Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Grace Lutheran Church’s second annual Grace Fest in Holts Summit.


German heritage was front and center Sunday at Grace Lutheran Church's second Grace Fest in Holts Summit.

The celebration of German heritage within the Lutheran Church featured a feast of traditional German food, live music from the Maker's Dozen and outdoor games for children.

More than 100 people bought tickets for a meal, which is about what organizer and church elder Cole Oxley anticipated. It's an increase from the event's inaugural year.

Oxley said Grace Fest originated as a family event they called Oxtoberfest. Eventually that grew too big to host at home, so he approached Grace Lutheran Church about making it a church function. It was hosted at Grace Lutheran Church for the first time last year.

"It's been a huge hit," he said. "It's just something to make our church kind of stick out."

Oxley, dressed in German lederhosen, said the event this year was more in the tradition of Oktoberfest, the German celebration commemorating the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria, who later became King Louis I, to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.

Kathy Montgomery, who helped organize the event, said the celebration also serves to mark the anniversary of Martin Luther initiating the Protestant Reformation, leading to the creation of Lutheranism.

"We kind of kept it in the congregation last year as our first time and we had a few people come in from outside and they enjoyed it, so we decided 'Let's open it up to the community and have them come in,'" Montgomery said.

"It's a celebration of fellowship and celebration of the Lutheran Church," she added.

The wide array of German food included pork schnitzel, spaetzle, potato soup, reuben dip, an Oktoberfest stew, bratwurst and sweet red cabbage. Ingwer-kek (German ginger cookies), a German fruit bottom cake and Anisplatzchen (a German Christmas cookie) were among dessert options.

Mingo and Siggi Ming are a married couple from Germany who prepared most of the food Sunday. They recently joined the church and immediately became instrumental to Grace Fest.

"I'm from Germany so I know how to cook schnitzel and spaetzle, so there you go," Siggi said.

She spent about eight hours preparing food, frying 70 schnitzels and preparing about three gallons of spaetzle (using 36 eggs, five pounds of flour and two pounds of cornmeal).

"It seems like a lot of people around here have German roots," Siggi said. "And food always brings people together. It gives you fellowship and food is comfort, so that's what we do."

German is the most reported ancestry in the Midwest, according to the 2019 American Community Survey administered by the U.S. Census Bureau. More than 1.3 million Missourians reported German ancestry in 2019, which is nearly 23 percent of the state's population.

Oxley said Missouri's large German population should have opportunities to celebrate its heritage.

It became unpopular to celebrate German heritage after World War I and II, he said. The history is well documented in Hermann, a German wine town he said didn't start recovering the culture until the 1970s.

"Of course we're all American, but we also got to know where our roots come from," Oxley said.

In its two-year run so far, Oxley said Grace Fest has attracted a good crowd from Immanuel Lutheran Church at Honey Creek in Jefferson City.

"We're just kind of trying to bring awareness to the culture and be proud of who you are and be excited," he said. "It's just a good time to let people know the German culture Lutherans have and the events we're bringing."

  photo  Ryan Pivoney/News Tribune photo: Duane and Michele Jenkins (left) are members of Grace Lutheran Church and invited their neighbors Ken and Melita Sloan (right) to the second annual Grace Fest on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022. More than 100 people bought tickets for traditional German food.
 
 
  photo  Ryan Pivoney/News Tribune photo: Sibbi Mingo helped clean up after the feast of traditional German food, putting the seven remaining pork schnitzel into a to-go box. Mingo, who is from Germany, spent about eight hours preparing traditional food from her home country. She fried about 70 schnitzel.
 
 
  photo  Ryan Pivoney/News Tribune photo: Kevin Engelbrecht (left), Don Propst (center) and Cole Oxley (right) took part in the Grace Fest feast. Oxley said Grace Fest originated out of his family's celebration of Oktoberfest before it got too large to host at home.
 
 
  photo  Ryan Pivoney/News Tribune photo: The Maker's Dozen, a band out of Immanuel Lutheran Church at Honey Creek, performed live music Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, for Grace Fest.
 
 
  photo  Ryan Pivoney/News Tribune photo: Grace Lutheran Church's second annual Grace Fest grew from its inaugural year, attracting more than 100 people for a traditional German feast, live music and activities for children. The event is a celebration of German culture within the Lutheran church, organizers said.