The encouragement of innocent out-door sports....
The original charter of the Round Top Schützen Verein was to be a sporting club for the “encouragement of innocent out-door sports, such as bicycle riding, target and trap shooting, open air athletics, games, dancing and others of like character.” Of these different activities, only a few are still practiced; dancing and target shooting. The Rifle Association hosts many dances throughout the year. The primary event of the target shooting is the annual Schützenfest.
Shooting for the rooster
The festivities start with a social and meal for members and their immediate family held the night before. The Schützenfest, held the next morning, is a shooting contest that results in the crowning of the König (king), who is the member with the best score after several rounds of shooting.
The contest involves shooting .22 caliber rifles with open sites at a target that is 168 feet away. The goal is to hit a perfect bulls eye which results a score of 12 points, much harassment by fellow members and the satisfaction of seeing rooster pop up. The farther away your shot is from the bulls eye the lower the count towards your total score. After a practice shot, each member shoots 3 times. Those with a score of 29 or better advance to the next round. Three shots are taken again. Those tied with the highest score in the second round compete in a "shoot-off" to determine the Schützenkönig.
A cedar crown and a keg of beer....
2024 marked the 152nd celebration of Schützenfest. The evening of Schützenfest, the members and public gathered for the crowning of the König, followed by several hours of dancing to the music of a local band. In preparation for the ceremony, the previous year's König, Eddie Marburger, made a crown of cedar boughs. At 6:00, the new König was escorted into the hall by a procession of all the members.
RTRA President, Michael Sacks, led the ceremonies and welcomed the guests. Michael then recognized all the hard work done by the spouses and children of the Hall members and announced the winners of the 2024 women's and youth shooting contests. They were:
Women's champion Monica Fricke, with a score of 64 (also the 2022 winner!)
Youth champion Morgan Nelius, with a score of 63 (her twin sister won in 2021!)
The 2024 SchützenKönig, Trey Leitko, was then introduced to the crowd. Trey was brought into the RTRA at 18, following his father Curtis into a historical organization with a history of service and fellowship. Trey has competed for 18 years, coming close, in shoot-offs, many times. This year, advancing from the first round with a score of 33, he shot early in the second round. He calmly pulled off 3 roosters, for a perfect score of 36! After that, every shooter behind him had to shoot a rooster on their first shot, or be immediately eliminated. The contest accelerated quickly, but no one matched Trey's skill. Congratulations, Trey!
Following his introduction to the crowd, Trey was crowned by Eddie, the previous king and received his gold medal. At that point, some of our stronger members hoisted the new König into the air three times to the shouts of “Hoch sol er leben, hoch sol er leben, drei mal hoch”. The new König does have responsibilities though... The first of which is to treat the RTRA members and their guests to a nice cold keg of beer!
Please enjoy vides of these moments posted below.
A Community Celebration
The Round Top community gathers in support of the new King for a night of music, dancing and German beer.
A newspaper article from the LaGrange Journal in 1896 describes a shooting contest with the same competition rules as are used today. You can read the article here.