Contributed by Jan Bahr
It was truly a fun-filled night of song, dance, good neighbors, good food, good beer and general Gemütlichkeit at The Onion Pub! From the decorations to the beer tasting, the schnitzel, the German dancers, the steins, the fabulous alpine hats, dirndls and liederhosen, you would have thought you were in Munich! With 154 attendees, it was our largest group of attendees ever, and I feel comfortable in saying, a good time was had by all!
The “liederhosened”, Rich Bahr, welcomed the crowd in German and was “wunderbar” his first time out as emcee, while President of TLCF, Mike Rigali, presented the award for Outstanding Citizens of the Year to a couple that have been involved in Tower Lakes for a very long time. Jack and Lee Johnson live in the house that Lee grew up in on Terrace Drive. Over the years, Lee served on the Village Board, TLIA and is currently a member of the Nominations and Beautification Committees. Jack will be ending his tenure this month as Vice-president of TLIA and has served on La
ke, PARC and Tennis Committees. They are always around for both the spring and Fall Lake Clean-up days, with Jack handling with the heavy work and Lee helping to feed the hungry crew. On so many days over the summer, you can see Jack cutting down or cleaning up brush from Association property. Please, add your congratulations to the Johnsons when next you see them. Prost!
The silent auction was again filled with generous and fun donations from vendors and residents alike, as well as the ever-popular “Breakfast and Ride to School” with the Tower Lakes Police Depart and the newly added “Ride to School on a Fire truck” with the Wauconda Fire Department! But it was the Live Auction, which included the generous offerings of 2 wonderful vacation homes from the Wheatleys and Gilletts, an autographed Jonathan Toew’s Blackhawks jersey with tickets and the very fun addition of a newly refurbished Golf Cart that once again hit the mark! Thanks to all who contributed, whether through donating or bidding on these items!
The costumes were not to be believed! From traditional German garb to the truly unique! Best /Most Authentic Man’s Costume went to the very manly, Eric Mann and the Best/Most Authentic Lady’s Costume to Frau Linda Kuna. While the Most Unique, or I should say, the Wackiest Costume went to the truly stunning, Dave Mackey!
Ke
eping it real, we had some neighbors from Barrington, Steff and Jim Troxell, entertain us with authentic German dance and their amazing 8 year old son on the accordion! After that, Tower Lakers really got their groove on when DJ Damian Gardner of Chicago DJ’s started us off with some polkas! We eventually moved into more of our comfort levels with a large variety of pop music! and it was the talented Randall & Nancy Cross who took top honors in the 
Dance Contest this year!
None of this would have been possible without the BN6 Planning Committee, headed up by the tireless Carol Hannagan and including Betsy Brookbank, Mary Kate Harazin, Brooke Rowley, Missy Sandburg and the “prosit”-leading, Jan Bahr. It is a night that will be talked and laughed about for quite awhile in our little “Burg” of Tower Lakes! And in the words ofWayne Newto
n, “Danke schoen, darlings, danke schoen…”
