Revenues wane, Austrian club set to sell building
Cultural alliance with several groups a solution being floated
It’s the waning days of the Regina Austrian Edelweiss Club, and decades worth of hunting trophies have already left the building.
During the next two weeks, almost everything else will go: Dance-troop costumes, flags and banners, a jersey from the Austrian junior hockey team.
But there’s no way to save the murals. For Karla Zankl, that might be the saddest part of saying goodbye.
“If we could, we would just love to roll them up and take them with us,” she said. “It’s going to be a lost art.”
The murals depict scenes of the old country. They were here when she married Gary Zankl in 1997. The couple held their wedding reception in this building, in an industrial area of Regina’s northeast.
“It saddens me,” Karla said, “just because I know the blood, sweat and tears that went into the building.”
Gary’s father, Karl, was one of the founders of the club, one of a series of Central and Eastern European cultural associations that formed in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. Karl used to play cards here with other Austrian immigrants, while Gary mowed the grass outside.
As hard as it is, the Zankls know it’s time to let the murals go. Club president D’arcy Schenk has a plan they think might help Austrian culture find a new life in Regina.
Schenk is on the cusp of selling the building to Regina Victory Church, whose pastor accompanied him to a planning commission meeting this month. He thinks the founders — men and women like Gary’s father — would be “rolling over in their graves.”
It’s not the sale that conjures up that thought. It’s his plans for “collaboration.” He’s reaching out to other European clubs in the hopes they’ll be stronger together.
“All clubs are having their struggles,” Schenk said. “Maybe there’s things we can do better together than separate.”
Karla, who serves as a director of the club, said membership has been declining for years.
The building — which went up sometime between 1977 and 1978 — was eating up meagre revenues for maintenance and repair bills.
In her view, the younger generation doesn’t have the same “emotional connection” as those who poured their hearts into the place.
Karla said hundreds of people used to come to Austrian dances here, during “the glory days.”
A big crowd came to a 40th anniversary event a few years ago, but attempts to repeat that success have been disappointing. Last year, only 38 people came to the club’s annual general meeting.
A bar and lounge brought in money for a while. But that part of the business shut down last year.
“Twenty years ago, you couldn’t get a seat in there on a Friday night — every Friday,” Karla said. “That has changed.”
Weddings, another cash cow, have also brought in less income for the club.
“People don’t have weddings that are 250 people anymore,” she said. “They have weddings that are 80 people. So that will cut your revenue in half.”
Other cultural clubs still host weddings. The Italian Club says business is great, with bookings into 2020. The manager of the Hungarian Club also says she isn’t having any issues.
But the German Club in Regina’s Heritage neighbourhood is facing challenges. Like the Austrians, members have an aging building to maintain and less money to do it.
Manager Kerri Van Loosen said business in the bar and lounge downstairs “isn’t what it used to be.”
“It costs us thousands of dollars a month just to pay our overhead,” she said. “If we don’t make thousands in the month then that just eats away at our line of credit.”
She assigned the problem more to changing drinking habits and harder economic times, saying membership is fairly steady at the club. Their last surge was about five years ago, when a bunch of 20-somethings signed up.
But the German Club is facing significant cash outlays to pay for a needed replacement of the building ’s furnace, as well as repairs to air conditioning and flooring in the lounge.
It’s calling on supporters to chip in, with a Gofundme page recently set up to collect donations.
Twenty years Ago, you Couldn’t get A seat in there on A Friday night — every Friday. That has Changed.
Van Loosen said quotes for the furnace and heating system run into tens of thousands of dollars.
“As a non profit, we just don’t have $70,000 or $100,000 sitting around,” she said.
“This summer, we’ve had so many things that we’ve had to fix up, which used pretty much our entire rainy day fund.”
She said the fire marshal and the city require some of the repairs, but haven’t given her a specific deadline. The club has no plans to close. She thinks members would loan money to the club to prevent the worst.
“We will do everything we possibly could to make sure it would never close,” she said. “It’s the heart and soul of a lot of us.”
Schenk said he wants to talk to the Germans about the advantages of teaming up. He has already sat down with people at the Hungarian Club and has plans to approach the Romanians. He suspects an alliance of cultural groups will be better able to survive.
The solution could be a shared space, or simply a way of holding events without a permanent building. Whatever happens, he said it’s “imperative” for the club — and the culture — to live on in some form.
“A building should not be a culture,” he said.
Karla agrees with that, even if she’s sorry to leave those murals behind.
“The culture doesn’t live in those murals,” she said.
“We are very optimistic that we are going to continue on. It will not look like it did in that club, but we strive to maintain and share that culture with the community.”
The club will hold a celebration on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. at the building, located at 320 Maxwell Cres., to say goodbye.