This year might be the 46^th annual Deutchesfest hosted by the Okarche Lions Club.

But maybe not.

None of the current club members – including those who were around then – remember the exact year of the first German food festival that has become a high point in the county’s fall calendar of events.

And that may be because that first event was so exhausting.

“It was a whole German festival – a parade, then the dinner and a Polka band and dancing afterwards,” Tom Schaefer, current club secretary, said. “They did that the first year and then decided it was way too much work.

“They didn’t know if they wanted to do it again at all, but then the question became ‘do you want to have an annual German dinner or go back to selling brooms and light bulbs?’”

(Brooms and light bulbs are traditional fundraising items for Lions Clubs, Schaefer said.)

So the club decided to pare the annual fundraiser down to just the German dinner.

But the phrase “just the German dinner” is a tad misleading.

When is the last time you prepared sauerkraut from scratch for more than 900 people?

The process begins with 750 pounds of fresh cabbage.

The heads of cabbage are quartered and sliced and packed into large containers where they are pounded with baseball bats to release the juice, which together with added salt, creates the brine in which the cabbage ferments.

Originally, the containers were traditional ceramic kraut crocks loaned by local families, but Schaefer said the pounding process was damaging the family heirlooms.

“Now we use clean trash cans,” he said.

That translates to 11 trash cans full once the hour-long chopping and pounding work is completed.

The cabbage is left in the containers to ferment for 14 days, under the careful watch of longtime kraut-master Tony Stangl, who is working from his mother’s recipe.

“Tony keeps tasting it during the fermentation and adds salt as needed,” Schaefer said.

Stangl is one of the Lions who has been involved since the first annual dinner. Others active in the early days included Al Schroeder, a champion advance ticket seller; Larry Bradford, former publisher of the Okarche Chieftain; Francis Schaefer, Francis Knecht, Marion Perdue, Frank Borelli, Paul Biller and Dr. Ted Fortmann.

Under the direction of David Craig, president, Schaefer as secretary and Frank Austin as treasurer, current club membership numbers about 60 and nearly everyone shows up to help with the dinner in some way, Schaefer said.

“We had about 35 members helping to make kraut this year,” he said. “We would have had more but we had several out sowing wheat.”

More members will help prepare the rest of the meal, which includes German potatoes, sausage and desserts, and then help serve, along with wives and significant others, on the big night itself.

If this year’s event, scheduled for 5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, at Holy Trinity Auditorium, is typical, Okarche Lions and helpers will serve at least 700 diners and pack another 200 or so takeout meals.

“From 5:30-7:30 p.m., it’s pure chaos,” Schaefer said. “It takes quite a lot of help to keep everything moving.”

A reliable source of help over the years has been the Okarche boys’ basketball team members. Late coach Ray West made sure all his boys were there, dressed in their team warmups, to help diners to their seats with loaded plates, bus tables, empty trash and do other tasks, Schaefer said.

All that work serves a purpose. Along with raffles held that evening, net profit from ticket sales funds the Lions Clubs activities for the rest of the year, and most of the money goes right back into the community, Schaefer said.

The club donates a portion back to the basketball program, works with Kingfisher optometrist Dr. Gerald McMullin to provide eye exams and glasses to those in need, helps support Okarche Christmas programs and more.

Whatever is left over in May is given out in scholarships to graduating Okarche seniors.

“That’s one of the big things,” Schaefer said. “Last year we gave out seven $500 scholarships.”

Which is why any membership grumbling about all the cabbage shredding and pounding, potato peeling and frenetic meal serving is completely good natured.

And why, whether this year is actually the 46th annual Deutchesfest or not, the Okarche Lions are planning for many more.