During my 45 years in senior management in the broadcast and media industry, one of the lessons I learned to the fullest is that great team members and employees will always be a company’s most valuable asset. Conversely, not so great team members and employees will surely be your biggest pain in the asset, without the letters E and T. Whether a for-profit business or a not-for-profit organization, dedicated employees and/or volunteers can make or break an idea, an effort and the positive spirit of collective accomplishment.
It is with this in mind that last year, in homage to the enormous number of volunteers at social clubs like the Reading Liederkranz and the Evergreen Country Club, Berks County’s two robust German-American clubs, I began writing and performing a song called “Here’s to Everybody at Oktoberfest.” The song’s lyrics offer a tribute toast to all the volunteers, cooks, attendants, dirndl and lederhosen wearers, partiers and organizers of Oktoberfest celebrations. When we perform the song live, we get the audience to sing along during the lively chorus, which exhorts all to chant “Ja, ja! Oh la la! Zigge zagge, zigge zagge, hoi, hoi, hoi!” We and our audiences have great fun celebrating and acting out the living spirit of “gemutlichkeit: (a sense of personal happiness and wellness), which is what Oktoberfest is meant to create.
It’s a celebration of a wedding back in 1810 in the mountainous region of Bavaria in the German Alps, between Crown .