REUNION 2008 - St. Louis, Missouri
The Cheshire Inn will be our Headquarters Hotel. For those of you who were at the last Saint Louis reunion this is the place where we held our banquet. It is centrally located just on the edge of Forest Park. Check out the Cheshire at their web site at: http://www.cheshirelodge.net. Be sure to click thorough the whole site so you get an idea of what they and Saint Louis has to offer.
PRELIMINARY REUNION SCHEDULE
Thursday, October 2nd: Hospitality Room (Cheshire Room 101) will be open about noon. Come to the Hospitality Room after checking in to pick up your name tag and activity tickets.
Your Editor will be available in the evening for help in planning your schedules. Dinner that evening is at the restaurant of your choice and at your expense. The nearest restaurant to the hotel is Applebee’s, which is up Clayton Ave. about two (2) minutes away from the hotel. They will not take large group reservations so, after checking in, call 647-0505 and set up your own dinner time. If Applebee’s is not your style, a larger selection of eclectic restaurants is located in the city’s Central West End, about 10 minutes by car from our hotel.
Friday, October 3rd: Hospitality Room opens after breakfast. The semi-regular and often raucous Jim Natividad Co-Ed Invitational Golf Tournament will be held at the Forest Park Golf Course, just down the hill from our hotel. Shotgun start at 8:00 a.m. since we have to be off of the course by 1:00 p.m. to make way for the local FBI’s annual golf outing. The golf course staff is aware of what our military function was and has asked us not to set up any listening posts to drop in on any sensitive FBI conversations. Cost of this function will be $30 per person including ½ golf cart. Players may want to have lunch in the club house at Ruthies Grill. Not at all bad for club house food.
If golf is not your thing, this is a perfect day, depending on the weather, to visit one or some of the interesting sites in the St. Louis area.
Our 17th reunion will be held in conjunction with Saint Louis’ Soulard Oktoberfest and will feature Chikeria from Germany, two time Grammy award winner Brave Combo and The Obenheimer Express from Alsace. You can check out the Soulard Oktoberfest at http://www.soulardoktoberfest.com.
Take a nap in the afternoon and be prepared for a good old Volksfest evening. Our busses will load at the hotel at 5:00 p.m. and transport us to the Soulard Oktoberfest in down-town St. Louis. Oktoberfest opening ceremonies start at 5:30 and you will probably see your Editor in his Schuetzenverein regalia taking part in the ceremony. Cost of the function is $50 per person. A little on the expensive side but includes bus transportation back and forth, reserved seating in the main tent, German buffet dinner (Bratwurst, pork schweinshaxe and chicken with traditional sides) and also includes two drinks (20 oz German beers, wine or soda.) This price may change as it was developed on the expectation of two full bus loads and the current cost of fuel. There will probably be three tents on the grounds where the other featured groups will be playing or stay in the main tent and let the entertainment come to you. During main tent intermissions you can wander around the grounds and enjoy yourself or catch the other acts. Dress is casual with lederhosen, dirndls, and your old army uniform all acceptable. We may be able to arrange two departure times from the Oktoberfest back to the hotel. One leaving the grounds at 9:30 and the other at 10:30. Indicate your choice of departure on the profile.
Saturday, October 4th: Again, the Hospitality Room will open after breakfast. Another good day to explore some of the St. Louis sites.
Our only scheduled function today will be the Banquet. Our busses will depart the hotel at 5:30 p.m. for our trip to the Feasting Fox restaurant. Our combination business meeting/happy hour will be held at the restaurant starting at 6-ish. The hotel’s hospitality room will be too small to handle the crowd. At the meeting your reunion group officers (President Jim Natividad, Vice-president Ray Lash and Treasurer/Editor Ralph Thadeus) will discuss the finances of the reunion group and will look for an on-site host for our next reunion. If you intend to suggest a site you will also be volunteering to be the coordinator of the reunion. Remember to consider our reunion’s German theme. The suggested dress for the banquet is business attire. Got some good German CD’s? Bring them along since our venue will have a player and speaker system. Any good piano players out there? Want to take a whack at playing a calliope, sometimes called a steam piano? They’ve got one and you are welcome to give it a try, but only if you are a good pianist. Schaef, are you coming?
Dinner will be a “sit-down” dinner with a cash bar. Entrees will be a choice of: Pepper Roasted Prime Rib of Beef Au Jus with horseradish whipped potatoes and steamed garden vegetable medley; and, Scallops and Shrimp Scampi with Radiatori Pasta in olive oil and herbs and also a steamed garden vegetable medley. Coffee, tea and house desert are included. The estimated price for this function will be $38.00 per person.
Speaking of costs, we will also ask for a $10 per person registration fee to offset website and reunion group expenses. This will appear until we publish the Reservation Request but you should be made aware of it.
Sunday, October 5th is the normal check-out day so the Hospitality Room will not be open. Meet in the Cheshire’s breakfast room and say your goodbyes - Aufwiedersehn zum nexten Mal.