Staff photo by Fritz Busch Smiley Wiltscheck’s cutout smiles at left as Scott Sparlin, left, and Tony Berg of the Bockfest Boys sing “Hurray for Smiley” at the Smiley Wiltscheck Tribute on Minnesota Street Friday.

NEW ULM — Musicians performed polka music on a semi trailer stage for more than 5 hours Friday in front of the B and L Bar on Minnesota Street in a tribute to the late Smiley Wiltscheck.

Stories about the man who lived for playing polka music were plentiful. He’d play on a moment’s notice for one person and in front of huge crowds.

He was personified by his broad smile, concertina playing, funny story telling, a rare sense of humor, generosity and long list of friends.

Wiltscheck died at home at 76 June 24, but not before he survived many close brushes with death.

He was struck by lightning twice and knocked out cold once by Mother Nature. He survived a vehicle accident that badly damaged his hand, but quickly recovered to perform within a couple weeks. Wiltscheck was carrying a water heater up a stairway once when he fell and it landed on top of him. An appliance repairman found him in a stairway underneath the water heater.

“I’ve spent the vast majority of weekends of my adult life with Smiley. He’s a legend. Back in the 1970s, (Golden Valley classic rock station) KQRS radio heard of him and interviewed him,” said Scott Sparlin of the Bockfest Boys.

One of the more unusual stories involved the idea that Wiltscheck would parachute out of an airplane holding a concertina at the first Farmfest event in Minnesota.

“He decided against doing it because he was worried about what might happen to the concertina, not about what may happen to himself,” Sparlin said.

“There were a lot of instances where fate was tempted. He ruptured his spleen and broke a couple ribs when the water heater fell on him while he was carrying it up stairs. He was playing concertina again in a couple weeks. It hardly phased him. He injured his hand badly in a t-bone crash near New Prague. He asked the doctor if he could play the piano after the crash. The doctor said he could. Smiley said that’s good, because he could never play piano before the crash. (Laughing). That was classic Smiley. He’s dodged many bullets in his life, by far,” Sparlin added.

There were more stories.

“He fell off a semi trailer and bounced off a vehicle not long ago. He was playing again before long. We were playing in the Heritagefest parade many years ago. The drummer’s cymbal fell on Smiley’s big toe. It was sticking up at a 45-degree angle. He ripped off his toenail and played in the parade without blinking an eye,” Sparlin said.

Also a motorcyclist, his home stood out and was easily found by visitors because there was a motorcycle on top of his porch.

Albany musician Ross Scalise said he met Smiley at a concertina jam a few years ago.

“I’d drive hundreds of miles to play in a band with Wiltscheck. He would give you the shirt off his back. He was a nice guy. A fun guy,” said Scalise.

Schell’s Brewery Operations Vice President Kyle Marti said the Bockfest Boys were a big part of Bockfest.

“Whenever the band played ‘Hurrah for Smiley,’ people went would go crazy. It was really fun. When Smiley put a bottle of Schells on his concertina and played a song, it was solid as a rock. It didn’t move. People loved him. We’ll miss him. It’s a bitter sweet day,” said Marti.

New Ulm Mayor Kathleen Backer said her memories of Wiltscheck go back to the 1980s when she was involved with the Brown County Historical Society.

“I asked people who we should get to play music for our volunteers in the museum annex. Two people were recommended to me, Christy Hengel and Smiley Wildscheck. I didn’t know Smiley at the time, but how could you miss him when he walks in the door with not just a smile, a million dollar smile. You understood why they called him Smiley,” said Backer.

“He was always willing to perform, even for one person. If we had Smiley or Christy there, people really came out. They wanted to see them. Even all these years later, he was still willing to perform. What a tribute to New Ulm. He was our guy. He touched the lives of thousands of people. If you were preoccupied with all the crap in your life, you’d look at Smiley and you couldn’t help but smile back. That was therapy for a lot of people,” she said.

Musicians performing Friday included Adam Munsterman, Dain Moldan, the Bier Garten boys, Leon Olsen, The Concord Singers, Josh and Tina, Nick Stadick, The Bockfest Boys, Carnie and the Best Band Ever and the Nate Frederickson Band.