Sistership Northampton - Stegersbach

With accordion music and whiffs of bratwurst hanging in the air, the people of Northampton kicked up their heels and celebrated a connection to the other side of the world.
Northampton’s 31st annual celebration of kinship with sister city Stegersbach, Austria, had to be moved from Municipal Park to the firehouse because of rain. But that didn’t stop the power of polka, a force so strong it drew John and Barbara Kisly to the celebration from their home in Slatington. With the Walt Groller Orchestra of Whitehall Township playing a lively Austrian tune, the couple took to the floor to show off their mastery of a dance called the Rhinelander.
’’Wherever there’s good polka music, that’s where we go,’’ John Kisly said afterward, and his opinion of the afternoon’s entertainment was shared by most of the crowd. At one point almost the entire crowd of about 200 people joined hands and swayed to the music, while the orchestra sang in German.
The celebration of Austrian culture had more personal overtones for some people, such as borough Councilman Joe Leitgeb. His father emigrated in 1936 at the age of 16 from the same region in Austria where Stegersbach is located.
’’They were go-getters,’’ Leitgeb said of his Austrian ancestors. ‘’They were hard-working people.’’
Although representatives from Stegersbach have attended the celebration in years past, none were able to make it this year. Leitgeb said their absence didn’t indicate a lack of interest in the sister city relationship.
’’They take this seriously over there in Stegersbach,’’ he said. ‘’[The celebration] is like Musikfest. They have a Northamptonplatz.’’
The friendship between the two towns grew from humble beginnings in the early 1960s. Frank Spitzer, 78, (picture below) a lifelong Northampton resident, gives most of the credit for getting the ball rolling to his friend Tessie Teklits, a world traveler and resident of Northampton until her death in 2004.
Spitzer recalled how Teklits talked the mayor of Stegersbach and several members of the town council into visiting Northampton in the 1960s, before the relationship between the towns was established. Spitzer was part of the welcoming committee.
’’They were here at least a week or two,’’ he said. ‘’We took them all over the place. We had a great time. They loved it. They didn’t want to go back.’’
Like Leitgeb, Spitzer’s father is from the same region of Austria as Stegersbach, a region known as Burgenland. Spitzer speaks some German and plays a mean accordion. During the festivities, he picked up the instrument several times and made the walls vibrate with a mix of traditional and modern songs.
As fun as the sister city celebration has been for Northamptoners, Leitgeb worries that it is a tradition that could die out. He noted a paucity of attendees at the celebration under 60 years old. In years past, there were many volunteers to make the food for events like this. Now many of those volunteers, like Teklits, have died. A clear solution to the problem is nowhere in sight, he said.
’’We’d like to get more younger people
involved,’’ Leitgeb said. ‘’We’re not doing it so far.’’
By Chris Pollock