Volunteers give park a new look

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By Mary Louise Speer | Tuesday, July 22, 2008 11:05 PM CDT | () comments

Curt Determan, an instructor at the Carpenter's Training Center of the Quad-Cities, builds a bandstand at Schuetzen Park in Davenport Tuesday. (Jeff Cook/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

Schuetzen Park in west Davenport is evolving this summer with construction of a bandstand, fireplace and restoration of the deer pond.

Long ago, people traveled to the park and tapped toes to the music of German-American musicians such as Ernst Otto and Jacob Strasser. This summer’s arias resonate in the taps of hammers, swish of brushes and thump of bricks being edged into place. The Schuetzenpark Gilde anticipates resuming Musikfests in the park at a later date.

“I just think that with the stage and everything, it brings back memories of years ago. We can have bands here again,” said Noreen Steenbock, secretary of the Schuetzenpark Gilde.

Bands will perform on the 12- by 16-foot stand Sept. 28 during the annual Oktoberfest festivities. The multi-level construction will allow people to see the musicians as well as hear the music.

Long ago, the park actually had two music pavilions, Kory Darnall, president of the Schuetzenpark Gilde, said.

A vintage photograph shows people in front of the Moorish-style music pavilion with its garlic clove-shaped roof ornaments and keyhole windows. German-American immigrants, their children and grandchildren flocked to the park for entertainment after the park opened in 1870. It was sold in 1923 and the Schuetzenpark Gilde is making sure the historic venue continues to provide a natural setting, and cultural center for people of the 21st century.

Volunteer students from the Carpenter Training Center of the Quad-Cities JATC, a union apprenticeship program, are constructing the bandstand.

The gilde contacted the carpenter apprenticeship school to build the picnic shelter in 2005. “They liked our work so they wanted us to come back and build this deck for them,” Curt Determan, apprenticeship instructor, said.

Students from the center have participated in other projects, such as picnic pavilions for city parks, and handicap ramps. “This is for training, and this is to benefit the community. It gives students hands-on experience with different aspects of the trade,” he said.

Plans are to put a cover over the bandstand as funds permit. The project is funded by grants from the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend, German American National Congress, Roy E. Murray Foundation and Scott County Regional Authority.

Darnall looks forward to seeing the street car pavilion restored in the next few years. “We’re trying to make this area the new festival grounds, or Festplatz, of the park,” he said.

Eventually he hopes to build a small, rustic-style lodge on the other side of the park close to the Bavarian Wayside Shrine. The lodge may have bunks for groups doing service projects at the park or scout troops.

“We’re not tax-supported. We have to rely almost entirely on people donating their time and talent,” he said.

He appreciates the work accomplished by the Scott County Community Restoration workers. That program is administered by the Scott County Sheriff’s Department. Workers are putting sealer on benches and doing most of the trail restoration and maintenance at Schuetzen.

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2245 or newsroom@qctimes.com.