50 Years of Roasted Wieners

This weekend marked the 50th Anniversary of the Bosch family wiener roast. For 50 (or 51 if you ask my Grandpa) years, members of my mom’s side of the family have gathered together to roast wieners, complain about the Cubs and Illinois football and eat cow tongue. Don’t worry, I’ll explain the cow tongue later.

For 29 of those 50 years, I thought the wiener roast was just an excuse to get an incredibly large family together for a big outdoor potluck. My earliest memories filled with woolly worms and football games at my great-grandma Bosch’s farm, followed by poker tournaments and can-crushing at my great-uncle Denny’s farm and more recently, the annual unveiling of babies at our newest location near Pesotum, Illinois. I seriously think we set a new record for babies yesterday. It wasn’t until my 29th year that I learned a return home for a great-uncle who was in the service 50 years ago was the spark that started the annual Bosch bonfire. (correct me if I’m wrong in the comments, Bosch clan)

Whatever the origin or wherever the location, you can be sure that on the Sunday before Halloween, one hundredish Bosch family members will be seated on hay bails around a fire discussing why the Cubs aren’t in the World Series, who should replace [insert Illini football coach name here] and which newbie hasn’t tried cow tongue yet. As a self-proclaimed full-blood I have somehow avoided the pickled cow tongue delicacy that this family treasures and I’m completely OK with that.

I think I’ve mentioned before that my mom’s side is rather large (in number). She is the oldest of 8. My grandfather is one of 8 as well. There’s no shortage of attendance at any family event. For this year’s pilgrimage, we were fortunate to have beautiful fall weather and a great turnout. And since it was the 50th, even commemorative coozies for attendees.

Speaking of pilgrimages, my former college and Chicago roommate and I made a trip back to Champaign this weekend for Homecoming. It was nice to be back on a campus where we spent so much of our irresponsible years and for the football team to be so kind as to play just about as badly as they did throughout our tenure. But hey, at least we got to see the Chief again. 

On Sunday morning, we walked around campus to see what had changed (Urban Outfitters on Green street) and what had stayed the same (KAMS). We reminisced and were reminded just how prevalent sweatpants are in a college town. I’m fortunate to have family in and around Champaign so I get to visit often, but it was really nice to get a chance to walk around our old stomping grounds rather than running past them during a half marathon. note for family: Price increases November 1. Sign up now.

Looking back on the weekend, I’m fairly certain I spent exponentially more time outside than in, spent more time with family and friends than alone and ate enough to last me until Thanksgiving when we can do it all over again.

I hope your weekend was fulfilling enough to get you through a workweek. Here’s to a wonderful week ahead. I can’t wait to go home and pull my Illini sweatpants out of storage.