New Royalty at the Donauschwaben
Since 1969 the inauguration of the new annual “Miss
Danube” – or Princess – was one of the most festive events
at the Danube Swabian Club in Scarborough. It was eagerly
awaited each year, especially by the members of the club’s
‘Youth Group, who are trying to maintain a stable influence on
the future of the club.
 The banquet hall had well filled up and the guests had taken
their meal at the hot tables that were set up in the restaurant
section of the club, instead of in the foyer, as in the past,
and taken advantage of the open bar for drinks.
 This new setup
allows for shorter trips to the kitchen and thus is a great deal
more efficient. We were also glad to see that Christian Probst,
the illustrious Chef was in charge, since he is currently
between jobs due to the closing of the club’s restaurant.
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The Golden Keys...
and their admirers |
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This has given the Golden Keys time to set up the band on the
stage and their first notes induced most of the guests to hit
the dance floor.
| Enter: the Youth Group |
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| ...and their opening dance |
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 As the excitement mounted – the revealing of the new ‘Miss’
finally started and Deanne Vincent – she was Miss Danube two
years ago - made a welcoming address to the guests as the
elegantly attired members of the
 youth group filed into the hall
and performed introductory rounds on the dance floor before
lining up for the ceremony in front of the stage, and after a
short congratulatory address by the club’s president Joe Folk,
the excitement continued.
It had always been part of the regular formal ceremony that the
outgoing Miss describes to the audience some of the impressions
and details of her past reign.
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| Cheyenne Kertes' address |
Applause from the
audience |
As was to be expected, it was brilliant. Since many of the
guests did not speak the native dialect of the “Schwowe” she did
it in English. She thanked the Schwemlein’s for sponsoring her
and for funding her education. She also mentioned her first
duties at such functions as Gala Night; Spring Show; Easter
Brunch and Abba Mania; her participation at the
Landestrachtenfest and the Oktoberfest in Kitchener as well as
Kindertrachtenfest in Kitchener, plus other events such as with
the Burgenländer Picnic and the event in Philadelphia – the city
of Brotherly Love – and many more occasions.
 Before she went on, she said “I must give a huge thanks to Lori
Szauter, for being the driving force behind the events of the
Kindergruppe in general, and my advice for the new Miss is that
there will be times where you may fall, but
 all you have to do
is to get right back up, because if not, the group will fall
over you. I would also like to thank Annie Hudson for her
dedication and her passion to keep the groups going, and my
consort ‘Mr. Danube’ Phillip Müller, who has always been a large
part of my life”.
She also expressed her thanks to her Oma and her Uncle for being
the most important people in her life and another bit of advice
to the new Miss: “Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it
happened”.
| Title of 'Mr.
Danube Swabian' goes from Phillip to Patrick Mueller |
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The crowing of
Emily Urban
as Ms.Danube Swabian 2011 |
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 And who was given the sash and crown for 2011, you ask? It was
Emily Urban, who will now carry on – as the 43rd
“Miss Danube”. She was sponsored by Mr. & Mrs. Jake Doerner and
her consort during the coming reign will be Patrick Müller.
Well done Cheyenne - and Good Luck to Emily and Patrick as well
as the Second Runner-up Christina Galowitsch, who has to take
over if the original Miss Danube is unavailable.
As always
Dick Altermann
Dick reports about community, historical,
cultural, ethnic events within the distribution area of Echo Germanica
from a German-Canadian perspective.
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