The Year 2024 in Review-Another memorable year for the BSV

2024 began with our annual King & Queen shoot, which took place on 24 January 2024. A very fine evening resulting in Tobias securing the Kings crown, and the Bochenko family continuing to reign as outgoing King Larry saw his daughter grabbing bragging rights as our new Queen. Congrats to all and what a great start for a new year.

Kronungsball: 12-13 April 2024. Another year is in the books and once again the Ball came off as a huge success. Over 130 guests came from all over the Midwest and celebrated the installation of 2024’s Tobias and Brittany as our new King and Queen. Thank you to all, see you next year!

The march in…

Maifest 2024 rolled around again at the end of May, but at a new location as we moved a little further south down Lincoln Avenue. The response from the club was, as usual, phenomenal. A big shout out to German Day and the two Joe’s, but particularly to BSV club friend Ralph Berger for his invaluable help; Ralph is one of the reasons our community is so great. If you are interested in Ralph’s club, click this link. http://www.edelweisschicago.com/

Above-In a clear error in judgement, the reigning 2024 RV Prinz u. Prinzessin, Mark and Lynda, greet the BSV-Chicago President and subsequently present him with an Ordnung-thanks Mark!

2024 Ohio Shoot-in Cincinatti, took place the same weekend as our Maifest, but that didn’t slow down the BSV a bit as we deployed an away team to Ohio even as we manned the beer tents in Lincoln Square.

News that never gets old. Jon Casillas took Gold in Pistol at the Ohio event. Congrats pal!

Sucess in Peoria in 2024. As we do every year, the club journeyed a little south to visit our Schuetzengeschwister this June. We finished closely behind second place St Louis and we had plenty else to cheer about as June Bochenko claimed first place in the novice division and husband Larry took bronze in the speed shooting contest held at Ross’s house. John Casillas lead the 13 member strong BSV team with 422 total points while Larry Bochenko and John Fuller rounded out the top three. A very special thanks to first time away participants, June, Anne, Geoff and Lisa, we hope its the first of many to come.

In July of 2024 reigning Queen Brittany Bochenko flew to Germany and attended the Schuetzenfest in Hannover, expanding the BSV’s international presence. While there she visited a number of other sites, including the iconic one below. Well done Brittany!

Later in July, the club travelled up to Milwaukee for the annual German Fest and along with our Schuetzengeschwister, marched in the big parade on Saturday, Fun!

August finally came around and with it also our annual, Karl Frentz memorial picnic. We had a tremendous turnout this year and everyone had a marvelous time. Thanks to all for putting it on, and coming.

The first week of September always signals one of the premier events of the year, the annual von Steuben Day Parade. Enjoy a few pictures from that memorable event in the Fall of 2024.

Honored BSV-Chicago Members-upper right, Karl, Inge and Richard ride the float in 2024

October 2024 turned out to be one of the busiest months in club history as we had something happening not only every weekend, but on one weekend, multiple simultaneous activities. Enjoy a few pictures from this great time.

Each year we celebrate German-American Commemoration Day on the first Sunday of October by gathering at St Bens Church with 25 or 30 other Chicago area German-American Clubs and Societies. The program nearly always includes performances by the United German Societies Damen und Maennerchor as well as the Jugendchor. A drink before at Laschetts and one or two next door at St Bens Oktoberfest afterwards rounds out a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Here are a couple of pics from this years event.

October 2024 marked another BSV first as we built mobile targets and visited our friends at DANK South, (Below) in Frankfort, Illinois. We would love to have another Dank Chapter hosting a Schuetzenverein in the future. We all had a lot of fun, and if you haven’t made it down to DANK South for one of their events, you should. It is a beautiful facility.

The BSV-Chicago at DANK Haus has become a “must see” feature of the annual Chicago Architectural Tour. Of course, it requires a time commitment from our members to put on an enjoyable and above all safe demonstration all weekend long. As always thank you to everyone who volunteered.

Two Events? No problem, for the BSV-Chicago. BSV hosts Open House Chicago-above and sends a contingent to St Louis-below

While some members of the club were at DANK Saturday and Sunday, others travelled to St Louis to represent the BSV there, at their annual shoot. Thank you to everyone who put in the time and the effort to compete on our behalf. What a weekend for the club!

For the past few years, the BSV has been the featured auction prize in the DANK’S annual fundraiser. 2024’s auction winner held his event on October 26th, and we were really glad to be there to contribute. Everyone had fun and we made some new friends during an “Evening with the BSV” We hope to see you all next year.

The 2024 Christmas Party was a wonderful success that was made even better by a generous gift from our reigning King, Tobias Dold. All members in attendance were presented with a brand new BSV Challenge Coin, courtesy of the King. Merry Christmas and a Happy 2025 to you all!

Although we lost some dear friends, Peter, Herbert, Erika and Bert, Rest in Peace. this year, 2024 turned out to be another amazing one for the BSV-Chicago, it is hard to believe that we were even busier and had more fun than we did in 2023, but we did. Thank you to all of the members that contributed to our success and best wishes to all for a happy and healthy 2025. We can’t wait to see what is waiting for us in the coming year

The Year 2023 in Review-What a great year for the BSV and its members.

2023 once again began with our annual King & Queen shoot. this year it was held on January 25th. Congratulations to our new King and Queen, Larry Bochenkso and Dahra Parenteau-Heil!

25 Mar 2023 (Above): Shooting in the morning, and feasting in the evening, and a good time all weekend. Thanks to all for making this years Ball arguably the most successful ever-we are looking for more pictures

Maifest 2023 (Above): We worked hard together in the kitchen, and the bar(s) but we still had energy the to celebrate. A huge thank you to all the members who put in the time and effort to really show off the club.

Macht Spass! June 2023 Meeting in Uniform. Good Times, but even Better Friends

Below-June 2023 continued to be an eventful month with a large contingent going down to Peoria on the 24th, for their annual shoot. As always, Peoria were incomparable hosts, but this years addition of a canon made it even better. How many ways and times can you say thank you to Ross Baer?

Unfortunately the news in 2023 wasn’t all good. Two beloved club members, Andreas and Sabine returned in July, to their native Austria, leaving a large hole in our hearts. We wished them the best and look forward to visiting with them in the future and we are also looking forward to them founding the first international chapter of the BSV-Chicago. (Pics Above & Below)

August saw the club gather for the 2nd Annual Karl Frentz Memorial Picnic (Below). We think Karl would have been proud of the turnout. Wie immer, Danke sehr Bruce Frentz!

German Day & the von Steuben Parade are always highlights of the year for the BSV. In 2023 the weekend extended From September 8th through the 10th, and in addition to volunteering for Oktoberfest, we ran the Brandenburger Tor down Lincoln avenue-again. Despite the time and work we even found time to celebrate together. First, the work.

Then the Celebration, which in 2023 seemed to include a weight lifting contest, #Silly

On the first Sunday of every October, St Bens hosts the “German settlement of America” commemoration, featuring speeches from local dignitaries, and music from a variety of German Choral Groups. A special Thank You to Carol Himmel for ALL that you do.

On October 14-15 The Chicago Architectural Foundation once again featured the DANK Haus as one of their featured stops during the open house weekend. A highlight of the DANK Haus was a chance to visit with the BSV-Chicago, and maybe even get a chance to try your luck. Here a young man (Below) is giving it a go under a watchful eye of a BSV Member

Karneval Party beim DANK– Congrats Mark and Linda! The Karneval party, hosted by the Rheinischer Verein and Club Friend Mark Hoppe was held on 11 November, in the Grand Ball Room of the DANK and was a phenomenal time as the pics above show.

BSV at St. Louis 2002

BSV at Peoria 2003

2013

2018

The 2018 Von Steuben Day- Parade in Chicago.  Prost!

St Hubertus and Eagle

2019

On July 5, 2019, members of the BSV presented a plaque to Joseph Bradtke, owner of Schumacher Imports and Bradtke Moving, for his continued and generous support of our club.

Thank you, Mr. Bradtke.

November 5, 2019, BSV Members participate  in the DANKhaus Celebration of 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

On August 11th, 2019, the Brandenburger Schuetzenverein had our annual picnic. We celebrated one of our founding member’s 90th Birthday.  Happy Birthday Karl Frentz! It was great to see everyone who made it. Here is Karl with the band Alpine Thunder.

September 7, 2019, Von Steuben Parade.

October 6, 2019, BSV Members carried the flag down the Aisle of St. Benedict’s Church.  Thanks for the members who represented us in the important event.

2020

June 27, 2020: Peoria Competition

October 17, 2020, the club sent an elite squad to the St. Louis Schuetzenverein to participate in their annual HubertusFeier.

September 2,  2020, Brandenburger Schuetzenverein Chicago sends it deepest condolences to the Frentz Family.  Karl was a friend, a member of the verein’s first Vorstand and one of the verein’s longest serving members.  He will be missed.

Karl Frentz

August 10, 1929 to September 2, 2020

2021

March 24, 2021: The BSV hosted our annual Range Clean-up day. Looking GOOD!!!!

2021 Coronation Roast

at the NiedersachsenVerein, 4548 N. Lincoln Ave, Chicago, Illinois

May 23, 2021, Doors Open at Noon

Live Music, Good Food and Good Times!!!!!

2021 Von Steuben Fest Parade

The 2021 Chicago Brandenburger Schuetzenverein Weihnachtsfest. Potluck was a great success! Thanks to everyone that attended! Dec 15th, 2021, Weihnachtsfest beim Dank

2022

2022 King Queen Competition

The Brandenburg Schuetzen Verein has gathered a lot of recent attention in the local, German-American Community Press, both photos below being published in different editions; Fall/2022.  Thank you Erica for saving these for us.     

Cincinnati Competition 2024

Maifest 2024