by William Crum
Grunauer, located at 101 W. 22nd St. in Kansas City, Mo., held its fifth annual Oktoberfest on Friday and Saturday. Well over 1,000 people attended this two-day event.
Peter Grunauer married Lynne Bielski, who was from Wyandotte County, more than 35 years ago. They had two children, Elisabeth and Nick. Nick went to St. Peter’s in Wyandotte County and graduated from Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Mo.
There are two Grunauer restaurants — one in Vienna, Austria, and the other is in Kansas City, Mo.
“We are looking in the future about expanding. We are looking at Wyandotte County mainly because of what is happening. We have been open for five years in Kansas City,” Peter Grunauer said.
At the Oktoberfest celebration, a band, the Alpen Spielers, played under the direction of Betty Jo Simon. Simon is a nationally known recording artist. Another person who was there was John Knechtenhofer, who played the Alpine horn.
Knechtenhofer started playing the horn more than 10 years ago. His family is from Switzerland and he can trace his lineage back to the 1600s. The Alpine horns cost more than $5,000 and there are only four manufacturers in Switzerland that make these horns. They were used to call cows in Switzerland, Knechtenhofer said.
The event included bratwurst and a favorite bread pudding prepared by chef David Bandelier and his staff.
People from all over the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area came to the fifth annual event. At the event there was singing and dancing making this event truly remarkable. Even a Meetup group invited people to attend this gala event.
If you want to try Austrian food, this is the place to go. For more information you can call 816-283-3234 or go to the website www.grunauer.com. If you want to learn more about the band, go to the website www.alpenspielers.com.
