A wooden bird waits at the top of a pole, 30 feet above the field outside Bow Valley Hall. Men in crisp white uniforms line up with high-powered rifles. The crowd watches as the bird splinters piece by piece until one shot brings it down, and children dash into the field to claim the largest piece.

This is Schuetzenfest, Bow Valley’s traditional German marksman’s festival. On Aug. 1-2, the Bow Valley Park Association will host the community’s 130th anniversary celebration, continuing a tradition that began in Cedar County in 1896.

Schuetzenfest means “marksman’s festival.” In Germany, Schützenvereine, or marksmen’s clubs, began centuries ago as citizen militias. Over time, they evolved into civic celebrations built around parades, music, food, dancing and shooting competitions.

Bow Valley’s celebration is one of only a dozen Schuetzenfests in the United States, drawing several thousand attendees from surrounding states and sister villages in Germany.

The tradition came to Bow Valley with German settlers who immigrated to Cedar County in the 19th century. By 2015, nearly 70% of the population could trace its lineage to Germany. Many families trace their roots to the Sauerland region of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Sauerland emigrants John Noecker Jr. and Willibald Schulte organized Bow Valley’s first Schuetzenfest in 1896. The local association, first known as the Bow Valley Schützenverein, has carried the tradition forward through generations of families whose German roots remain visible in the community’s surnames, food, music and festival customs.

Dennis Schulte traced those connections by traveling to Germany to attend a Schuetzenfest in the Old Country. “Bow Valley is representative of the memories those immigrants brought with them from their homeland upon coming to Nebraska,” he said. “I hope the next generation gains an appreciation for the huge challenges and sacrifices their ancestors made to settle here.”

Bow Valley holds the festival every five years with Mass, a parade, auction, dancing, beer steins, authentic German fare and other activities. The signature moment is the “shooting of the bird.” Marksmen in white uniforms, militia hats and bow ties aim from about 40 yards at a carved wooden bird mounted 30 feet high. Some years, it takes hours and a few hundred shots. Other years, a skilled marksman brings it down quickly.

The winner is crowned Schuetzenfest King and reigns until the next festival.

Matt Potts, the current Schuetzenfest King, remembers the commotion after his winning shot in 2021. “What a rush. I felt like a herd of cattle after I won, being shuttled around to speak with everyone in town,” he said. His own godchild collected one of the largest pieces of the bird, adding another memory to the family’s Schuetzenfest history.

Potts will compete for the fourth time this year, but he is ready for a new king to take the title. “I want to pass the baton on and let someone else experience this wonderful tradition of our German heritage,” he said.

In Bow Valley, the next king will take aim at a wooden bird and a tradition 130 years in the making.