By Madison Stokes | Staff Writer

EAST DEUTSCHTOWN — On March 16, The Teutonia Männerchor Hall welcomed the Northside community during their Open House and Ostermarkt, or Easter market. Attendees visited vendors, listened to live music and indulged in German imported food and beer as a way to celebrate Easter in the German fashion.

The Teutonia Männerchor is built on rich Northside history, being founded in 1854 by German immigrants.

The building itself was built in 1888. The walls are lined with paintings which were completed in the 1930s by a Teutonia member, whose great granddaughter is now a member. The carvings on display were done by one of Teutonia’s members and they represent the number of German cities and states. There are also flags which represent the different organizations and ceremonies.

Pat Schaller was a vendor at the Easter Market selling her Switzerland-based chocolates. She has been making chocolates for close to 60 years and some of the fillings she uses are still imported from Europe. Shaller’s chocolates are all hand-tempered and hand-dipped, meaning they do not require any machines to make.

“I have a lot of old vintage metal molds that help me form [the chocolates],” Schaller said.

Pat Shaller met her husband, Walter Schaller who is of Bavarian and Swiss descent, at Teutonia and are going on 40 years of marriage.

“My parents emigrated 60 years ago and came [to Pittsburgh],” Walter said.

Schaller’s father was a member of The Teutonia Männerchor so he has been visiting the club since kindergarten.

“Teutonia here is the perfect place for us,” Walter Schaller said. “They’ve got good beer, good entertainment and you don’t have to be German to come here.”

Mary Seibert, president of the ladies chorus at Teutonia called the Damenchor, was also a vendor. The Demenchor has concerts twice a year, once in the spring and another in the fall. The group will be celebrating their 170th year at their fall concert. Teutonia currently has around 100 to 150 singers in the club and spends a lot of time promoting German heritage.

“Our goal is to preserve the German heritage of the music that this club is founded on,” Seibert said.

Diane Clawson, chairperson for the German room at the University of Pittsburgh (PITT) Nationality Rooms, was a vendor selling German-imported hats, feathers, and other goods to support their scholarship program.

Every year PITT offers scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students to study abroad in the summer. The nationality rooms participate in the interview and fundraising process.

Randall Hall, aka the ‘BEEBOY’ of Pittsburgh, sells his wares at the Ostermarkt. Hall has been cultivating local honey from multiple hives across the city since 2009. Photo by Matthew Koscienski

“We pick candidates that we feel would best serve German heritage while studying over the summer,” Clawson said.

Randall Hall, a beekeeper since 2009, was another vendor of the Easter Market, selling his locally-made honey and educating people about the benefits of eating local honey.

“If you eat honey local to your area it can help with your allergies for that season,” Hall said. “There’s fall and summer varieties depending on what flowers or trees are blooming that creates the different nectar that the bees make the honey from.”

A friend of Hall’s, who is a member of Teutonia and lives in Troy Hill, encouraged him to attend their winter market this past December for the first time.

“It went really well and it was fun so I came back for this one,” Hall said.

“I’m just excited to try the beer and hear the music,” said Rebecca Stout, who attended the open house with her two daughters.

Stout follows the Instagram of a pottery vendor that was in attendance at the Easter Market and decided to buy another coffee mug for her husband’s birthday.

“I’d passed this place for many years and came to a few of the open houses and I thought it would be nice to be a member,” said an attendee who explored the Easter Market with his wife.

“I’ve been trying to study German for eight or 10 years and they do have a Saturday morning German class here,” the attendee continued. “I just wanted to support the German community and German heritage.”

For more information on Teutonia, visit pghmannerchor.com/