Eric Conover and Karen Keck had just three weeks to prepare for one of the biggest weddings the area has ever seen.

The two would tie the knot during the Bavarian Summer Festival at Lakewood Park in Barnesville.

It would be a German-themed wedding, right down to the couple’s ornate garb and the Alpine horns that played - and it would be a celebration attended by thousands.

“It was just a sea of people. You couldn’t even see the end of it,” recalled Karen (Keck) Conover.

The West Penn couple recently celebrated their 50th anniversary.

And to commemorate it, their daughters, Amy Buchman and Kate Frank, secretly arranged an event that brought together friends and family, German musicians and wedding memorabilia.

Not only that, they held it at Catalpa Grove - the site of the former Lakewood Park and its Bavarian festivals.

Love builds

“We met at the festival,” Karen said. “My parents live almost across the street and I used to work at the bratwurst stand.”

Eric worked at the main gate, where he sold tickets to those who entered from Route 54. Karen also entered each day by crossing the road - and Eric always noticed her.

“I had some high school friends that worked at the main gate with him, and he said, ‘Who is that?,’” Karen recalled. “My friends said, ‘Do you want to meet her? We know her.’”

Eric asked her for a date. She agreed, and they had dinner at the park’s beer hall.

“That was in June 1972,” Karen said, “and by August, we were engaged.”

“There were a lot of sparks,” Eric added of the whirlwind courtship.

A special request

As spring dawned in 1973, Eric’s dad, the late Donald Conover, came to the couple with a question they weren’t expecting.

The elder Conover was the public relations director for the Bavarian Summer Festival and was planning a German custom wedding for another couple but they backed out a few weeks before it was to be held.

Not too disappoint the thousands of people expected to attend, Donald asked his son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law if they would step in.

“My parents started panicking and didn’t know what to do,” Eric recalled. “They came to us, and said, ‘We know you are engaged and you are planning to do this, could you kind of volunteer?’”

The catch was that their wedding would be just three weeks away. After some thought, they agreed.

She was sent to the Licht Trachtenhaus in Oley, Berks County where seamstress Nancy Licht got to work making Karen an intricate wedding dress in white - along with dirndls, or dresses for her bridesmaids.

“In three weeks’ time, Nancy Licht made my wedding gown and all of my bridesmaids’ dresses. She also gathered all the attire for Eric and all the guys. It was quite a feat,” Karen said.

Tying the knot

On the afternoon of June 30, 1973, Karen linked arms with her father, the late Karl Keck, and walked down a white-colored aisle that cut through the crowds at the outdoor grove.

As Eric waited on the stage, alpine horns signaled the start of the ceremony.

The couple remembered reciting their vows - in German. The Rev. Henry Weitmann, a pastor from the United Church of Christ in St. John’s, Luzerne County, officiated the ceremony.

Hymns and prayers were in German, too.

Following the ceremony, a horse-pulled cart delivered the newlyweds to the main beer hall. German music and polkas surrounded them.

“That was quite an experience because there were thousands and thousands of people in that grove to watch us get married,” Karen said. “We have pictures where they were hanging from the trees.”

Most would follow the wedding party to the beer hall.

The two had a small reception with their families and close friends in a back room at the hall.

“And then it all kind of spilled out into the main hall,” Karen recalled. “That’s where I had my wedding dance.”

The reception lasted for hours.

Eric remembered local and regional newspapers sent reporters and photographers, and television stations broadcast clips from the affair.

50 years later

As their golden anniversary approached neither of them knew what their daughters had been planning.

“Oh, it was a surprise,” Karen admitted.

Amy said planning began about four years ago with the goal of hosting it where their parents tied the knot.

Having it during another Bavarian Festival was long out of the question since the annual event ended in 1984, as the site also ceased operations.

However, the property got a new life around 2019 as Catalpa Grove at Lakewood Park. The site hosts weddings, parties and other events at a recently built venue.

Amy and Kate rented the venue, and invited family, friends, bridesmaids and groomsmen.

“We thought it would be a perfect place for them to celebrate,” Amy said.

She and Kate tried to keep it a secret.

“We thought it was going to be a dinner,” Eric admitted. “But we didn’t know where or how many people they had invited.”

They also didn’t know that they’d be treated to an Alpine horn blower, German band - and opportunity to renew their vows just yards away from where they were married.

“Our minister (the Rev. Russell Campbell) from Zion Stone Church went through the whole service again, and it was really nice,” Eric said.

It was in English this time.

“The main hall that we had it in amazingly enough, it looks like a miniature version of the main beer hall at the festival,” Karen said. “It is set up the same with the high ceilings, the stage was in the same spot and everything. It just reminds you of it.”

To add to the magic, the couple’s daughters retrieved their mother’s gown from their grandmother Pauline Keck’s attic. It was displayed alongside Eric’s wedding attire. A bridesmaid brought her dress, and lederhosen that the couple wore while working at the festival were there, too.

“The venue was perfect. It was beautiful,” Karen said of the anniversary party.

As for the secret to being married for five decades, the couple isn’t sure there is one.

“But we are best friends. Always,” Eric said.

“Yep, we were always best friends,” Karen said.

The two said they do everything together - even shop for groceries.

Karen is a retired teacher for the Tamaqua Area School District, and Eric is a retired photographer from the Standard-Speaker newspaper in Hazleton.

In addition to their daughters, they have a grandson and granddaughter.