Life’s a dance in Johnsburg

Published 10:03 am Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Purists winced at the sound of ZZ Top rock music coming from the speakers at Sunday’s Johnsburg Jamboree.

It was an intrusion.

When the legends of old-time polka music, the Blue Banners, are playing, who needs another form of music?

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Answer: not the crowd of more than 1,000 people who visited the Johnsburg Jamboree.

The attempt, according to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church trustee and Johnsburg resident Paul Lammers, was to appeal to a more youthful audience.

The Bring It On DJ did his best with Guitar Hero and Wii video games, but, true to form, the longest lines and biggest crowds were around the dance floors featuring three polka bands.

The dance floors were filled with couples, doing the familiar hop-step-close-step polka in 2/4 time or variations thereof.

They danced the polka in the aisles of St. John’s church Sunday morning when a polka mass was held.

They danced it all afternoon long and into Sunday evening on the church grounds beneath a thick canopy of pine trees.

They danced it in their imaginations on the way home Sunday night.

It’s old-time music mania at its best each mid-July at Johnsburg.

Barb (Kiefer) Kloeckner is a St. John’s church council member.

In a sea of happy people with brats sizzling on the grill, paddle wheels spinning their clickety-click sound, pop tabs from cold Bud Light popping and the irresistible music in the background, Kloeckner tried to explain what was going on around her Sunday afternoon and plans in the making for the church’s sesquicentennial celebration next year.

“We’ll probably have some activities going on the Saturday before the Jamboree next July,” she said. “Of course, there will be the Mass on Sunday and a big parade, too.

“The big day, of course, will be Jamboree Sunday next July 12,” she said.

Every Johnsburg Jamboree Sunday is big, but celebrating 150 years of history will make it the biggest event in the congregation’s life.

Church history

The first Roman Catholic religious service was held in the home of John Fagans by the Rev. George Keller in 1853. The priest was pastor at a Faribault Catholic church at the time, but came to Johnsburg once a month to hold services.

A 16-by-20-foot log church of oak timbers and hand-split shingles was constructed in 1859, according to the Mower County Historical Society.

It was the first Catholic church built in Mower County and was constructed on a farm owned by John and Gertrude Heimer, who donated the land for the church.

There is no record of a polka Mass being celebrated by the original members of St. John the Baptist Church.

John Heimer is the great-grandfather of Harvey Heimer, current church council president, and “Chicken Bingo” impresario.

Harvey’s father, Gilbert, crafted the scale models of the three church buildings utilized by the congregation in its 149-year history.

They have appeared on parade floats throughout Mower County to publicize this year’s Johnsburg Jamboree and the upcoming sesquicentennial in 2009.

Church loyalty

Back to the present and Barb Kloeckner is talking about the new CD of music released by church families.

“The CDs are very nice. It’s our choir with church families involved in making very beautiful music,” she said.

Barb (Kiefer) grew up in Adams and attended Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Her husband, John, grew up in the countryside, attending St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.

Both husband and wife were among the church families working a concession or operating a game Sunday at the Jamboree.

The church itself is worth a tour and so is the school building where dinner was served Sunday and a bake sale and cake walk also were successful fundraisers.

Out back is the church cemetery carefully maintained by groundskeeper Sam Mullenbach.

The cemetery also has Jerry Kramer’s memorial to all veterans from the congregation, who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

There is also a grotto on the church grounds constructed by the Rev. Joseph Koch in 1929 depicting Jesus Christ lying in repose.

South of the church is the Freund General Store and Social Hall, which served early settlers with a variety of services: grocery store, meeting place, bar, post office and dance hall. It is closed today.

On Sunday, the backyard of the current Freund family members, Randy and Laura (she directed the church choir on the new CD) was filled with children’s games and picnic tables.

Vehicles parked in farm fields east of the church and on the church grounds and baseball diamond on the west side of the highway. They also lined Mower County CSAH No. 7 north and south of the unincorporated village.

Each summer, the Jamboree is a magnet for relatives to return home and strangers to visit for the first time.

It’s a place of memories for the church members.

“When I was younger, you didn’t go around much,” Kloeckner said. “I think I was to one Jamboree before I married John. We lived five miles from here, but I never knew Johnsburg existed.”

One bit of trivia must be researched and that is how many Johnsburg Jamborees have been held. “Over 30, I believe,” mused Kloeckner. “I know it had been going on before the 125th we celebrated.”

The church has 115 families today, which Kloeckner described as a stable figure in recent years.

The Rev. James Seitz serves Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Adams as well as St. John the Baptist.

The day after the Jamboree, Harvey Heimer was on his way to LeRoy to turn in aluminum cans collected at Sunday’s celebration for recycling.

Paul Lammers stopped by the church grounds to check on things after Sunday’s wing-ding.

“We had a great time,” he said. “The weather was perfect and I think people stayed around longer than in years past, because of that. They were still here last night when we shut down and they were listening to the music and visiting. We had everything cleaned up by 9 p.m. Sunday.”

Everything but the memories, that is.

They will last until the next Johnsburg Jamboree.