This video was taken in the building that is now The Market Place."
In 1987, about 1/3 of the buildings on Main Street were empty, so they were used for various events and shows during Weihnachtsfest, which at that time was over several weeks on the weekends.

I purchased my first video camera in 1977 and Don Zubrod told me it was the first one sold in Western Iowa - maybe even Iowa.

By 1987, that technology kept changing and I started purchasing cam-corders. The first cameras had to be plugged into a 110 VCR, so I ended up using lots of long extension cords for various events I recorded.
The battery powered cam-corders really provided me with a very mobile process.

December 2, 1987 Weihnactsfest

Click to see a little of Weihnactsfest

The first person you see is Dorothy Kusel
Then you'll see a short clip of Virgil showing his crafts
Lastly you see/hear Dorothy Kusel singing with Hope Campbell and Linda Jensen

Notice how Hope, Linda, and another girl are hamming it up behind my mother in the first part of the video.
Realize that by 1987 I had been video taping things in Manning for 10 years and the kids knew what I was doing - since I had been showing my videography on the local Channel 2 channel in Manning since 1982.

Prior to that I would show my videos on a TV or my big screen TV.

I just happened to transfer these snippets last year.

I have several hundred video tapes I need to digitize and slowly I've been transferring tapes to hard drives.
There is never enough time to do all of the historical work I need to get done.