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The World Championship Dainty Contest began in 1971, when George Hauck, Charlie Vettiner, and a few neighborhood friends gathered at the corner of Goss and Hoertz Avenue (today renamed "George Hauck Way") to play a game they remembered from their childhood -- a game they called "The Dainty".
To play, you strike one end of the dainty (a 4" pointed piece of a broom handle) with the dainty bat (the rest of the broom handle) to pop it into the air, then swing again and try to send it as far down the street as possible.
The farthest legal hit wins.
The shortest legal hit gets a basket of lemons.
Sounds easy, until you are standing out in the July heat, stooped over, trying to whack a tiny piece of wood, all while being heckled by all your friends & neighbors.
What began as a handful of Schnitzelburgers playing in the street has grown into an annual neighborhood institution, traditionally held at 5 pm on the last Monday in July, in which competitors must be at least 45 years old.
To wit: Dainty may be the only sport in the world where reaching middle age means you are finally ready for the big leagues.
The game was likely brought to Louisville by German immigrants during the 1800s, when these families were settling the neighborhoods that became known as Germantown & Schnitzelburg.
Through generations of change, Schnitzelburgers have continued to gather at the same corner outside of the old Hauck's Handy store, to play Dainty, share stories and space, enjoy some cold beer and bologna, and take part in the greatest tradition in Schnitzelburg
-- if not the world.
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