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Greetings from Edelweiss-Passaic, New Jersey
June 2003

We have enjoyed reading the articles submitted to the Kinder Ecke from Matt LaCourse, and from the Denver and Dallas Vereine. It's great to hear what's going on among our friends around the country. I've been meaning to write something since December, but seemed to only now (in June) sit myself down to do it.

Most of the members of our Kindergruppe are the children of our dancing members. Of course, as with most clubs, our girls out number our boys, nearly 2 to 1. This situation always has its challenges, especially since half of our girls are twice as tall as our boys. We've got a great group of kids who have learned to make due. If you don't mind, I'm going to regress to last Autumn and let you know what our Kindergruppe has been up to.

After our summer break, we got back into the swing of things in early September, and started practicing for our Oktoberfest. On October 19, 2002, at our Oktoberfest, our children performed the Spinradl. They worked hard and did a great job. The very next week, our Kindergruppe was asked to perform for Hardyston Township Day in Franklin, NJ. Utilizing every dance they know, plus the Chicken Dance and Zillertaller Hochszeit March they were able to put on a forty-five minute show. As an added benefit, our musician also helped out by playing songs with her accordian and bells. On December 1st, the Kindergruppe was hired to entertain at a Kristkindl Markt held at Waterloo Village in Stanhope, NJ. This was truly a learning experience for us all! Due to a lack of communication (on my part), we found out when we got there that the children would be dancing outside! And wouldn't you know, it just so happened to be the coldest day so far that year. Of course, they set us and a band up in a tent (which tried to get heated). There was no dance floor, only grass. If you could see the looks on our children's faces. All they wanted me to say was that we could all go home, but I couldn't. They huddled around the heater, drank hot cocoa, and did the best they could to get through the afternoon without complaint. (well, not too much) Our children are to be commended for enduring these conditions. I'm sure many adults wouldn't have put up with what happened that day.

After our Christmas Party/Annual Club Dinner, Kindergruppe activities were pretty much limited to practices. We had three children interested in participating in the Kinder Einselplattler at the Gaufest this year. Erich Homenik, age 12, danced twice. Once with Melissa Gratzl, age 14, and again with Jenny Donnelly, age 11. We are happy and proud they chose to participate. They had wonderful performances and we are pleased with the judges' encouraging comments.

One week later, we gathered once again. This time for the Mid-Atlantic Kinderfest hosted by Bayern Verein Newark in Clark, NJ. This was actually the first Kinderfest our Kindergruppe has been able to participate in and wow, what a great time they had (in spite of the rain). We only had three couples in attendance and they performed the Woaf and the Unterwestner. They truly enjoyed the day and couldn't wait until it was their turn to dance. They made new friends and are anxiously awaiting next year's Mid-Atlantic Kinderfest to be held in Oley, PA.

We are very proud of our children on and off the dance floor. I hope you enjoyed hearing a little about our group.

Die Kinder lassen gruessen.

Judy Kulich
Kindergruppe Director
Edelweiss-Passaic, New Jersey
Judkul@aol.com