Schwingfest

The Background of Swiss Wrestling

About 1300 A.D. cow herders in the Alps started the sport of Swiss Wrestling. they wore belts around their waists and handkerchiefs around their knees. Since then, the sport has become the most important sport in Switzerland.

The sport is organized by matching wrestlers according to weight, size, and past performance, and later by points.

8.50 - 8.75 is a loss
9.00 is a draw
9.25 - 10.00 is a win

Points are added for rematching and to determine the winners.

A crown of laurel wreaths and accorns is presented to the winner by a beautiful crown girl.

Wrestling Practices

Wrestlers need to have at least two practices to be eligible to wrestle at the Schwingfest. Practices are taking place on Sundays starting with Buebe Schwingers at 5:00 p.m. at the Swiss Park in Frances. Contact Adrian Cook for more information: 360-942-7703

55th Annual Schwingfest - July 6-8, 2018

Schedule of Events
Friday, July 6th:
5:00-6:45 p.m. Dinner
7:30 p.m. Concert
9:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m. Dance
Saturday, July 7th:
8:00 - 10:00 a.m. Breakfast
10:00 a.m. Schwinger Registration
11:00 a.m. Wrestling begins
11:00-4:00 p.m. Grill is open
Music throughout the afternoon
1:30-2:30 p.m. Lunch Break
Wrestling Semi-Finals
5:00 p.m. Wrestling Finals (Ausstich)
Steinstossen (Stone Throw) to follow
5:00-7:00 p.m. Dinner
8:30 p.m.-2:00 a.m. Dance
9:30 p.m. Crowns
Sunday, July 8th:
8:00 - 10:00 a.m. Breakfast
Catholic Mass
Musikfest

*Schedule is tentative and will be updated closer to this year's event.

Overnight Accommodations:
Swiss Park Grounds
On-site tent or RV camping is available with or without hook-ups.
Hook-ups: $15 per night
Non-hook-up/tents: $8 per night
*Reduced rates apply to this weekend only with purchase of event pass
*If you park your trailer in an RV spot prior to or leave it after the event, you are responsible for payment for all nights you are parked. Reservations are not available at this time.

Falls Creek Lodge
Less than a mile.
Call 1-888-934-9555 for reservations and rates.

Pitchwood Alehouse Inn
Apprx. 16 miles/20 min.
rooms@pitchwoodalehouse.com
360.942.5313

2017 Schwingfest - 54th Annual

Yodeling, Cowboy-Dressed Entertainer and Accordion Player; Tongue-in-cheek funny-man

Slim, aka Rick Crowder, is a well traveled veteran of stages ranging from The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering to The Lincoln Center's Roots of American Music Festival and the Carnegie Hall Folk Festival.

His fast-paced stage show finds him crooning Western classics, playing accordion, guitar and harmonica, dancing a jig, dishing out hilarious comedic sketches and letting loose with some absolutely mind boggling yodeling. His truly astounding yippie-ti-yi style won him the Academy of Western Artists 2001 Will Rogers Award for "Yodeler of the Year" and 2009, 2010 and 2011 nomination for "Entertainer of the Year" from the Western Music Association.

2016 Schwingfest - 53rd Annual

The Lewis-Pacific Swiss Society was very honored to have widely acclaimed Swiss Yodeler, Arthur Brogli entertain us on July 1st in Frances, WA. Some of you may remember that Arthur Brogli yodeled in Frances many years ago. He now resides in Lodi, CA. Arthur has recently yodeled at many Swiss and Bavarian Festivals, including Joseph, Oregon’s Alpinefest, San Jaquin Valley (Ripon) Schwingfest and Newark, CA. Musicfest, as well as many Oktoberfests and other events up and down the west coast.

In 1948 the Brogli family emigrated from Oberfrick, Canton Aargau, Switzerland to the USA. Arthurs dad bought a farm in Imperial Valley, CA. near El Centro, CA. It was at 64 feet below sea level that Arthur learned to yodel.

His mother was his best teacher and his dad assisted with the schwyzeroergali. Art is the oldest of 10 children and his whole family played and yodeled at many occasions in CA. At those occasions many American people encouraged Arthur to pursue a career in music.

2015 Schwingfest - 52nd Annual

Friday Night Concert ~ Lyle Schaefer Polka/Variety Band ~

Lyle has played accordion professionally for over 50 years. Over the years he has played with Myron Floren, Frankie Yankovic, Verne and Steve Meisner. In 1999, Lyle and his late brother Lynn took 1st place in the Kimberly (Canada) Old-Time Accordion Competition.

Lyle says, "we will open the concert with a nice Swiss Marsch, Swiss melodies, and tunes with an international touch". After the concert Lyle and his band will play the rest of the evening for your dancing and listening enjoyment.

2015 Schwingen Results

2014 Schwingfest - 51st Annual

Friday Night Concert: Kerry Christensen

A fabulous evening designed for all ages. Yodeling songs from every culture. Indian Love Call, Cattle Call, Swiss, German, Cajun, and chicken yodeling. Amazing mouth-trumpet, Swiss Alphorn, Austrian Zither.

Kerry Christensen, one of the world's best Alpine yodelers, was raised on a potato farm in Grace, Idaho and had to wander quite a distance to discover his passion - yodeling! A performer from the tender age of three, he has sung everything from western ballads to barbershop music. It was during his travels to Austria in 1976 however, that he discovered the folk music that would be his life. Armed with recordings of the great yodelers, Kerry returned from Europe, determined to master this ancient art--and he did. While driving the family tractor around and around the potato fields, he practiced 14-15 hours a day. He drove his father crazy and was banished to practicing in the garage--to no avail, as yodeling carries very well. (Remember, it was used to communicate between hillside farms.) His career really soared when Disney World hired him to work at the German Pavilion of the Epcot Center in 1984 . He was the Disney World Yodeler from 1984 to 1990 and the leader of the night band for the last four of those years.