On June 25th, 2023, the Twin Cities Swiss American Association celebrated its 50th year since incorporation. The event was at the Theodore Wirth Chalet in Minneapolis, which has a rich Swiss history. The creator of the park system was Theodore Wirth (1863–1949), a Swiss immigrant. As the center point of the park and golf course is the chalet inspired by the Swiss mountain chalets. We had a great turnout, including special guests, founding members, Juerg Oberschmied, Interim Consul General of Switzerland in Chicago, Eddie Moradian, Consul of Switzerland in Minneapolis, and Beth Zurbuchen, President of the Swiss Center in New Glarus, as our official guests.

During the social hour, some attendees could see themselves in photos of the many display boards reflecting the story of the past 50 years. We also had a display of the memory book we wrote about the past. The last chapter will be about the anniversary event, which will have a lot of photos. In the background, we had an Alphorn Duo and a concertina player giving the event a musical note.

Our caterer (Mintahoe) served us a delicious Swiss inspired meal – Zürich Geschnetzeltes and Cordon Bleu. Everybody enjoyed the lunch and was excited to get to the celebration part. In addition to a speech delivered remotely by Philippe Lombardi, submitting good wishes in the name of the Organization of the Swiss Abroad (OSA). The two sponsors of our event, Buehler and Filtrox, highlighted their businesses and relationship to Switzerland. The show’s highlight was Rene Steiner, who had Swiss traditions such as Treicheln, Talerschwingen, and Yodeling.Three guests volunteered to play them to tell the history of the Treicheln (Cowbells). The three bells we had sounded different, and when they were all together, they brought many memories back to us from Switzerland. The Talerschwingen has a very special sound in Appenzell. Then, when he started yodeling, he included everyone in the audience, and it was like a folklore choir, as he could give everyone some basics of yodeling.

A break was taken after the celebrations of events before we started with the Annual General Meeting. The mandatory business, such as the President’s Report, the Treasurer’s Report, and the board elections, were done promptly, there were no changes to the officers, and we reduced the number of associated directors. We also had to vote on a change to the Articles of Incorporation and the By-Laws. While archiving our documents, we realized that when the TCSAA was founded in 1973, the name of the founding members was Twin City Swiss American Association. This name was registered with the Minnesota Secretary of State until today. In the Business Year 1987 – 1988, the now familiar name Twin Cities Swiss American Association was used but never recorded by the Minnesota Secretary of State. Related to the name change, we also had to adjust the Bylaws. Those articles were written 50 years ago but never adjusted, so we brought them up to date. Without opposition, the proposed modifications were adopted, and we are now recording them with the Secretary of State to have the name Twin Cities Swiss American Association officially.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this event, including the organization’s committee, the official guests, musicians, and our sponsors. We are now looking forward to the next 50 years.

We are selling the book “50 Year Anniversary book. The price is $10.00 for Pickup or have it shipped for $13
Order it here as pickup order
Order it here as mailing order

Philippe Lombardi’s – Gratulations to our 50th Anniversary