http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Sep/09292003/monday/96968.asp>
Kirby: Guns, beer: A recipe for festival fun
Robert Kirby
Salt Lake Tribune Columnist
On Saturday, the Blue Boar Inn held its second-annual Schutzenfest in
Midway. The word sounds like a cross between a curse and a sneeze, but it's
actually much more genteel in that it involves guns and beer.
This seemed like the perfect combination for a big news event, so I drove
up to check it out. To ensure that I did not become overly involved, my wife
came along.
Midway is the right place for Schutzenfest. The surrounding mountains are
both beautiful and serve as backstops for any stray bullets. Also, the early
Mormon pioneers who settled the place were largely Swiss and German stock. The
only festival my own pioneer ancestors could brag about is a potato famine, so
I needed someone to explain the more culturally refined Schutzenfest.
Blue Boar innkeeper Jay Niederhauser did the best he could with the
journalist he had to work with.
The Schutzenfest began in Germany's lower Rhine region during the Middle
Ages when marksmen gathered to prove their skills. It started out with bows and
arrows, eventually graduated into musketry, and today may involve artillery.
Competitors on Saturday shot Olympic biathlon pellet guns. The fest boarded
the Heber Creeper and rode it out to Soldier Hollow for the actual shooting.
Although Saturday's targets were just small metal disks, the traditional
Schutzenfest targets were items meant to be food. Primary among these was the
large and wily boar.
Technically a pig, a boar is not your usual cuddly farm oinker. Boars are
what happens when pigs form street gangs. They're mean and ugly and a bunch of
them gored Old Yeller, all of which make them perfect candidates for shooting.
The Blue Boar Inn has a large statue of, well, a blue boar out front. It
looks like an irritated Arnold Schwarzenegger getting out of bed the morning
after a night of hard Schutzenfesting.
The good news is that boar is delicious when prepared perfectly by
executive chef Chris Sheehan, starting with the proper application of gunfire
and moving on to a delicious peanut sauce and a side of sauerkraut. I gained 12
pounds.
Perhaps the most successful Schutzenfest was the Franco-Prussian War of
1870, when Germany whopped France.
Today's Schutzenfest is much more sedate although not without its ribald
moments, in particular the Old Style-Strong Arm Competition to see who could
hold a full beer stein out in front of them the longest.
As usual with Teutonic stuff, this was harder than it sounds. For starters,
a regulation German beer stein weighs the same as an iron bathtub. Fill it and
the contestant with beer and things get wobbly fast.
In the olden days, the winner of the strong-arm contest was awarded his
wife's weight in beer, which may explain why historically German women tend to
be rather ample.
Since this was Utah, top prize for the strong-arm contest at the Blue Boar
Inn was the winner's weight in Jell-O.
Plans are under way for next year's Schutzenfest. Even if you don't drink,
plan on attending by going on a diet right now.
-----
Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Kirby welcomes mail at 143 S. Main St.,
Salt Lake City, UT 84111, or e-mail at rkirby@s...
Kirby: Guns, beer: A recipe for festival fun
Robert Kirby
Salt Lake Tribune Columnist
On Saturday, the Blue Boar Inn held its second-annual Schutzenfest in
Midway. The word sounds like a cross between a curse and a sneeze, but it's
actually much more genteel in that it involves guns and beer.
This seemed like the perfect combination for a big news event, so I drove
up to check it out. To ensure that I did not become overly involved, my wife
came along.
Midway is the right place for Schutzenfest. The surrounding mountains are
both beautiful and serve as backstops for any stray bullets. Also, the early
Mormon pioneers who settled the place were largely Swiss and German stock. The
only festival my own pioneer ancestors could brag about is a potato famine, so
I needed someone to explain the more culturally refined Schutzenfest.
Blue Boar innkeeper Jay Niederhauser did the best he could with the
journalist he had to work with.
The Schutzenfest began in Germany's lower Rhine region during the Middle
Ages when marksmen gathered to prove their skills. It started out with bows and
arrows, eventually graduated into musketry, and today may involve artillery.
Competitors on Saturday shot Olympic biathlon pellet guns. The fest boarded
the Heber Creeper and rode it out to Soldier Hollow for the actual shooting.
Although Saturday's targets were just small metal disks, the traditional
Schutzenfest targets were items meant to be food. Primary among these was the
large and wily boar.
Technically a pig, a boar is not your usual cuddly farm oinker. Boars are
what happens when pigs form street gangs. They're mean and ugly and a bunch of
them gored Old Yeller, all of which make them perfect candidates for shooting.
The Blue Boar Inn has a large statue of, well, a blue boar out front. It
looks like an irritated Arnold Schwarzenegger getting out of bed the morning
after a night of hard Schutzenfesting.
The good news is that boar is delicious when prepared perfectly by
executive chef Chris Sheehan, starting with the proper application of gunfire
and moving on to a delicious peanut sauce and a side of sauerkraut. I gained 12
pounds.
Perhaps the most successful Schutzenfest was the Franco-Prussian War of
1870, when Germany whopped France.
Today's Schutzenfest is much more sedate although not without its ribald
moments, in particular the Old Style-Strong Arm Competition to see who could
hold a full beer stein out in front of them the longest.
As usual with Teutonic stuff, this was harder than it sounds. For starters,
a regulation German beer stein weighs the same as an iron bathtub. Fill it and
the contestant with beer and things get wobbly fast.
In the olden days, the winner of the strong-arm contest was awarded his
wife's weight in beer, which may explain why historically German women tend to
be rather ample.
Since this was Utah, top prize for the strong-arm contest at the Blue Boar
Inn was the winner's weight in Jell-O.
Plans are under way for next year's Schutzenfest. Even if you don't drink,
plan on attending by going on a diet right now.
-----
Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Kirby welcomes mail at 143 S. Main St.,
Salt Lake City, UT 84111, or e-mail at rkirby@s...
