Festival Hill Craftsmen

To the Editor:

We wanted to write in and hope that our letter can be published, as we desire to shed light to the craftsmanship at Festival Hill concert hall while it was originally being constructed. It is our desire to bring bright light to our dear, dear old friend, the late Arnold Parsifka who was a superior woodworking craftsman who did not know how to read or write, and did not use a computer at all, but it was he who shared and taught his knowledge and superior skill and artistic abilities in woodworking craftsmanship. Many, many of us remember very well.

The original article in its entirety may easily be recalled via computer at https:// roundtop.com/culture/festivalinstitute- larry-birkelbach. We submitted only a few excerpts from the original article to shed light on our dear friend, Arnold Parsifka from Fayetteville and most certainly give him the credit he deserves.

Larry Birkelbach set foot on Festival Hill for the first time. It was Oct. 12, 1975. His first job was replacing the rafters on the Clayton House. When the roof was dried-in about a month later, Birkelbach was assigned to work on the black school, the structure that was original to the Festival Hill site, with Arnold Prasifka, a master carpenter from Fayetteville.

Arnold’s advice to me was simple, “Keep your mouth shut, and do what I tell youand we’ll get along, Birkelbach said laughing. “Arnold was a fine, fine finish carpenter, but he was hard to get along with. He either liked you or he didn’t and he decided which within five minutes of meeting you. Once he made up his mind, he didn’t change it.”

The pair ended up getting along fine. Under Prasifka’s tutelage, Birkelbach became a master craftsman. In return, Birkelbach helped Prasifka, who never learned to read, navigate the information driven modern world.

“Arnold knew how to live life, but he wasn’t very good at communicating,” Birkelbach said.

The two worked side by side at Festival Institute until the oil bust of the 1980’s disrupted work. The Festival Concert Hall had just been started. The crew went their separate ways with Birkelbach striking out on his own to build high-end houses in Lakeway nearAustin.Two months later Birkelbach got a call from Richard Royall, Festival Hill’s managing director. Festival Hill’s leaders wanted then 30 year old Birkelbach to take over where contractor Newton Peschel left off.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Birkelbach said. “The concert hall had just been started. I didn’t know how to build a concert hall, but I figured the only way to know if I could do it or not was to try.

Birkelbch’s first hire was Prasifka. They worked together until Prasifka passed way in 1997. The elder craftsman left an assortment of his specialty tools to Birkelbach.

Margaret Michalsky Roberta Michalsky Liz Ripple Fayetteville Frances Vaughn Thomaston,TX