History Book: Bavarian Summer Festival at Lakewood Park in Barnesville closed 40 years ago
Jul. 8—Around this time of year, 50 years or so back, tens of thousands of visitors would descend on Barnesville for the Bavarian Summer Festival in Lakewood Park.
Billed as the Oktoberfest in July, it was patterned after the annual Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.
Kermit Dietrich, a Berks County beverage salesman, conceived of the idea of replicating the famous German festival in Schuylkill County.
During its 15-year run, the Bavarian Summer Festival was the largest event of its kind in the United States.
In 1969, its first year, the then six-day festival drew a reported 96,000 visitors. By 1977, when it was held for 17 days, the festival drew 410,000 people. Some estimates said the crowd reached a half-million at its peak, the late 1970s.
The last festival was held in 1983 — 40 years ago this month — three years after the founder's death.
Dietrich told Schuylkill County leaders the festival would have an "Old World atmosphere" when he announced its founding at the Mansion House in Mahanoy City around Thanksgiving in 1968.
All personnel, right down to the parking attendants, would be dressed in traditional Bavarian costume, he told the group, which included Frank Guinan, secretary of the Lakewood Park Association.
"It will be the first festival of its kind in the East," said Dietrich, president of the Bavarian Festival Society.
Lakewood Park was ideal for a Bavarian style festival, Dietrich said.
The dance hall where the Dorsey Brothers performed during the Big Band era was converted into a Bavarian style beer hall.
German style "oompah" music resounded day and night through the main hall, which could hold 3,000.
With the tapping of a keg of beer, the crowd erupted in song: "Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit" followed by "Eins, zwei, drei, g'suffa." Roughly translated: "One, two, three, down the hatch."
Dietrich brought in celebrities for the ceremonial tapping of the first keg of imported Dab German beer, overseen by Festmeister James Schoellkopf and Scot A. Dietrich, the founder's son.
Grandpa Jones, the banjo playing comedian from TV's "Hee Haw," tapped the first keg in 1983.
Billy Carter, the fun loving brother of President Jimmy Carter, also presided over a first keg tapping. At the time, he was promoting his own brand, Billy Beer.
Frothy steins of Dap were helpful in washing down bratwurst, wiener schnitzel, sauerbraten and roast chicken from the festival's kitchen.
The world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales led the festival's opening day parade in 1977.
Clayton Moore, aka The Lone Ranger, was among the celebrities who made personal appearances at the festival.
During his appearance, Moore wore sunglasses in the shape of his famous mask. He explained that for legal reasons he was prohibited from wearing the actual mask he wore in the movies or on TV from 1949 to 1957.
Schuylkill County's own Jennifer Lynn Eshelman, of Hegins, Miss Pennsylvania, made a personal appearance at the final festival.
A 40-piece German band from Kindsbach, about 60 miles from Heidelberg, performed daily in the beer hall in 1972.
Dr. Gerald H. Cohn, a physician at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, performed with the band. A retired Army lieutenant colonel, he played flugel horn and trumpet with the band when he was stationed in Germany.
Daily entertainment in the main Beer Hall included performances by Alpine horn blowers, Schuplattlers (German folk dancers), bell ringers and yodelers. Actually, the festival had two beer halls that could seat a combined 5,000 patrons.
Over more than two weeks, the bill featured popular polka bands, including Marv Herzog, Walt Groller and Frank Yankovic.
Typically, several crafters from Germany were among the more than 40 crafters employing their skills. A woodcarver and a baker from Oberammergau, Germany, were at the 1977 festival.
Visitors could take advantage of Lakewood Park's amusements, rides and classic handcrafted amusement park carousel.
The 1928 Spillman carousel was removed from the park in the early 1980s. It has been restored and is in the Grand Rapids Public Museum in Michigan.
The Dietrich family had also operated Gambrinus Restaurant, which featured German cuisine, on Route 309 in West Penn Twp.
Bavarian Summer Festival equipment was auctioned in 1984, and Lakewood Park closed the same year.
(Staff writer Devlin can
be reached at rdevlin@
