For the past several decades, the Scheutzenfest musical entertainment has been provided by Ralph Weiershausen and the Hill Country Boys. Weiershausen, now 77, sits in the background.

Details:
The 110th Scheutzenfest takes place on Saturday and Sunday, July 29 and 30, at Bear Creek Shooting Range on Center Point Road. The public is invited, and there is no admission fee. Food and drink are available on the grounds.

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Scheutzenfest

by Phil Houseal
July 27, 2006

When we moved out in the country 15 years ago, we quickly grew used to the quiet, interrupted only by the occasional bleat of a lost goat or the call of a lonely turkey.

So it was a surprise when we woke up one Saturday to the sound of shooting and live music. With my kids running ahead, we set off to find its source. Sure enough, hidden in the shade of a live oak at the Bear Creek Shooting Range, a four-piece band was playing country classics.

That was our introduction to Scheutzenfest, an event as interesting to observe as it is to pronounce.

For the next hour, we watched the pageantry unfold. The host Bear Creek Shooting Club escorted pickup trucks spilling over with enthusiastic club - or Bundt - members. As the band played, each club unfurled and planted its century-old banner. Another Scheutzenfest was underway.

According to Charles Feller, acknowledged event historian, the Scheutzenfest was officially organized around 1892, when it was held on the "Saturday and Sunday closest to the full moon closest to the first day of August."

"That's because the shooters came in wagons and buggies, and they needed to tend to their horses," Feller explained. "Also, they used to have a dance under the stars on Saturday night."

For the past several decades, musical entertainment has been provided by Ralph Weiershausen and the Hill Country Boys. This Fredericksburg institution includes Vernell Ahrens (who started playing at age 13 "and never quit"), her son Alan, and Andrew Nielson (who was taught to play bass in 1941 by Hermann Staudt).

Weiershausen started his band on December 7, 1946, making 2006 the group's 60th year.

"We played for weddings, 25th anniversaries, and 50th anniversaries, sometimes for the same couples," Weiershausen recalled. "I've played music longer than some people are old."

After the opening ceremonies, participants get serious for the shooting competition. For two days they look down the open sights of their centerfire and rimfire rifles at targets 200 yards away (that is two football fields!). Rings are valued from five to 10 points, with each participant getting 10 shots. Feller notes that it usually takes a score of 97 or 98 to win and be named Scheutzenkoenig.

Awards are handed out on Sunday afternoon during the "er lebe hoch" ceremony. It means "he lives high" and involves the newly-crowned king being tossed high in the air. While the band plays anthems and "what we call oompah music," the clubs parade again in the order of their finish, dreaming of doing better at next year's competition.

Now 77, Weiershausen has cut back from the days when he played every Saturday and most Sundays (Bill Smallwood will be sitting in for him on trumpet this year). But Weiershausen's reputation as a hardworking performer lives on.

"Old Ralph liked to play so much that one year the bartender pulled the plug on him so he could go home," Feller said. "Ralph always gave us all our money's worth."

With more than a century of history, the Scheutzenfest symbolizes what draws people to the Hill Country.

"It still goes on the same traditions and customs, but it doesn't follow the full moon anymore," Feller said. "We don't have to feed horses, we don't have dances, and we don't drive home by the moonlight. But it's still a family affair."

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