FRANKENMUTH, MI (WNEM) -
This year, Frankenmuth is celebrating its 50th anniversary with its sister city of Gunzenhausen, Germany.
On June 7, more than 100 guests from Gunzenhausen will be arriving in Frankenmuth for the celebration of the golden anniversary.
The fountain that is currently being finished near the parking lot entrance of Zehnder's will be dedicated to them upon their arrival later that same day.
A formal banquet will be held on the evening of June 10 at the Bavarian Inn Lodge.
Residents of Frankenmuth are encouraged to put out signs that read, "Welcome sister city friends!" or "Welcome Gunzenhausen guests."
According to the Frankenmuth Chamber of Commerce, the sculpture was all done in Michigan and most of the project was designed and completed by talent right here in the Great Lakes Bay Region. The Chamber offered these details about the fountain:
- When the City's streetscaping project was completed in this phase in 2004, the City planned to build a monument or fountain in the future. A committee chaired by Judy Zehnder Keller with membership of Dan Haubenstricker (Sister City Chairman), Mayor Gary Rupprecht, Dr. Annette Rummel, Sheila Stamiris and Harold Eckert began meeting about the vision for the site about two years ago. Harold Eckert, retired art teacher, helped pull together the committee's design concepts and built a small scale model. Once the concept was confirmed, the committee hired Don Koster, lead architect with Archiverde of Midland, Michigan to develop the site plan and to begin designing the fountain. The committee selected Jim Ardis, sculptor, to create the sculpture based on the committee's vision.
- The 18-feet tall Fountain, designed by Don Koster, is topped by a sculpture depicting a dancing young couple adorned in the traditional German dress of that period. The fountain has two pools, six waterfalls and a "rain curtain" emanating from a four feet diameter bronze bowl. The dancing couple, sculpted by Jim Ardis, is intended to capture the vitality and optimism of the young people who emigrated to Frankenmuth from the Bavarian region of Germany in the late 1800's.
- William Bronner & Son Contractor of Frankenmuth is the contractor for the project. Project manager, Matt Bronner, coordinated the major concrete work and that of subcontractors. Primarily, the project was "made in Michigan" – with all of the contractors based in the Great Lakes Bay Region and Michigan. The waxed, bronze bowl and sculpture were bronzed in foundries located in Bay City and in Ypsilanti.
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