Sister Cities Share Love for Packers, Beer

It was after midnight in Seligenstadt, Germany, when the Packers won the coin toss and chose to kick to the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.

But that didn't stop Thorsten Bonifer from throwing an overnight house party with 15 friends to cheer on the Pack.

"I didn't get to bed until 5 a.m.," Bonifer said. 

A lifelong fan of the Packers, Bonifer also had a Wisconsin connection: Seligenstadt is Brookfield's Sister City and Bonifer chairs the committee that plans exchange trips between the two cities.

"I'm a big football fan, but most of all a big Packers fan," he said. "We had a lot of fun. Next year we want to host a big Super Bowl party at a restaurant."

On Wednesday - three days after the big game - he flew to Milwaukee to confab with with Brookfield Mayor Steve Ponto about a planned June trip to Germany and other Sister City collaborations. 

Perhaps the most salivating: talk about getting a license to brew German beer at Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee and distribute it in Brookfield. 

Seligenstadt has a brewery called Glaabsbrau with its own Hefeweizens, Pilseners, Dunkles and Doppel-Bocks. 

Glaabsbrau is one of the largest employers in Seligenstadt, a city with about 20,000 people, located 20 miles southeast of Frankfort. 

Ponto said when a Brookfield group toured Glaabsbrau in October, the tour guide quipped: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

But this week the talk was more about the June trip, the bitter cold and of course, the Packers.

Bonifer said the weather in Seligenstadt has been a tad warmer than Brookfield, with temps in the 20s and a recent snow storm.

Brookfield and Seligenstadt established their Sister City relationship in October 2008, about six years after former Waukesha County Executive Dan Finley urged Mayor Kate Bloomberg to connect the cities.

Waukesha County already had a connection to the County of Offenbach and the state of Hessen with Wisconsin. A Brookfield group toured Offenbach cities and decided Seligenstadt "was the nicest," Bonifer said.

Signing ceremonies occurred in Brookfield in October 2008 and in Seligenstadt in December 2008. 

"In 2009 we only had Skype contact," Bonifer said. 

Last year, two exchanges occurred: a dozen Germans visited Brookfield last July and marched in the city's Fourth of July parade, and took part in other events. In October, a dozen Brookfield residents went overseas on a "wine tour" of Germany, hosted by Seligenstadt.

And there have been many more exchange trips between students at Brookfield Central and East high schools and Einhard School, a Seligenstadt high school. 

Ponto said in addition to potential business connections, the Sister City relationship is valuable on a more human level.

"Brookfield really needs to focus on these kinds of ways to promote understanding and international friendship," the mayor said.

Residents interested in attending the next delegation trip to Seligenstadt in June can e-mail Sister City Chairman Harry Farchmin at hjfarchmin@earthlink.net or call the mayor's office at 262-787-3525.