Luxembourg Heritage Society Announces Events May 22 and 24, 2006
For additional information, contact Rick Roder at rroder@eofficials.com
The Luxembourg Heritage Society of Northwest Iowa is hosting two events the week of May 22. Both are open to the public.
On Monday evening, May 22, Kevin Wester, the Director of Development for the Luxembourg American Cultural Society Inc., will offer an exciting presentation at Remsen St. Mary’s High School cafeteria, 523 Madison Street, at 7:00.
Wester is an excellent speaker and passionate about his Luxembourg heritage. He was born and raised in Belgium, Wisconsin, the future home of the Luxembourg American Cultural Center. Wester has been an integral person in founding and promoting the Cultural Society and Center. In announcing his presentation, Wester said, “I cannot wait to tell the people of Northwest Iowa about our vision of the many ways the national center can encourage and assist the local society and to work together to preserve our unique heritage.”
The Luxembourg American Cultural Society is an international membership organization formed in 2004 to preserve Luxembourg heritage in the United States and to foster relationships between the people of Luxembourg and America, as well as between the areas of Luxembourg settlement in the States. Wester will explain the mission of the LACS and will explain the creation and vision of the society’s $5 million Cultural Center being built in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin just north of Milwaukee. The Cultural Center will feature historic materials pertaining to Luxembourg settlements throughout the U.S., including those of Northwest Iowa, one of the largest areas of concentrated settlement. The Plymouth and Sioux County towns of Remsen, LeMars, Oyens, Hospers, Granville, and Alton had especially high numbers of Luxembourger immigrant families. The Grand Opening of Phase One of the Cultural Center is planned for August of 2007.
Wester’s presentation will include a display of select photographs and memorabilia from the archives of the LACS reflecting the Luxembourgish communities of Northwest Iowa. The LACS holdings will include Wester’s personal collection, one of the largest known collections to exist, which he has donated to the Cultural Center.
Rick Roder, chair of the local society, said, “This presentation is a tremendous opportunity for our towns and our local society. Kevin is incredibly knowledgeable and the Cultural Center will open up frontiers never before imagined. We have already started to learn that the LACC will promote tourism to our area and exposure we could have never hoped for before. People in our local towns are cementing friendships with others across the country and even in Luxembourg. The possibilities are endless. It is very important that we get behind the project in Ozaukee County. To promote the national center is to promote the heritage locally.”
Wester will spend four days in the area and will be interviewing local leaders about their visions for preservation of the Luxembourg heritage. Those who would like to talk to him personally can do so the night of the presentation or schedule a time through Rick Roder.
A second event is scheduled the same week. Last spring the Luxembourg Heritage Society held an outdoor Mass at the St. Donatus historical site between Alton and Remsen. By popular request the society has chosen to make the Mass an annual event.
The Mass will be at 5:00 PM on Wednesday May 24. The society chose this day because they will be hosting a group of 14 tourists from Luxembourg who will be in America’s Midwest seeing places with Luxembourg immigrant influence. The group is led by Rene Daubenfeld, who has led tours here before.
The heritage group will show the Luxembourgers churches, cemeteries, and other points of interest in Le Mars, Oyens, Remsen, Alton, Hospers, and Granville before reaching the St. Donatus site. Persons wishing to meet the group at any of these stops should contact Rick Roder for an itinerary.
Luxembourg families who live or have lived in Northwest Iowa will be honored every year at the St. Donatus Mass. The names being recognized this year are Brucher, Nothem, Goetzinger, Durst, Klein, Thinnes, Nilles, Kettel, Thill, and Schiltz. Descendents from each family will be present at the Mass if they can be found, and are cordially invited to attend. Some Luxembourg names once prevalent in the area are no longer found here.
Persons wishing to attend the Mass are asked to bring their own lawn chairs for seating. The memorial site is located one mile west of county blacktop L-14, which runs between state Highways 10 and 3. From Highway 10 take L-14 two miles south and then gravel road 480th St. (Sioux County) one mile west. From Highway 3 (Golden Pheasant) take L-14 ten miles north and then one mile west on 480th. Please approach the area with caution. In case of inclement weather the Mass will be held at St. Mary’s Church in Remsen at approximately 5:30.
The public is also invited to a reception and dinner for the Luxembourg visitors after the Mass at the Beck Park shelter house. This is a pot luck dinner. Meat and beverages will be provided and guests are asked to bring a salad, desert, or side dish. Rick Roder said, “Daubenfeld will introduce his group and it is expected that many friendships will be sprung, songs sung, etc., just like last year. It should be a lot of fun.”
Roder said that Daubenfeld plans to bring groups over annually, if not twice per year. A second tour is planned in September.