With 60 people in a small Greenfield basement, this family will celebrate 100th Easter

This year, approximately 60 members of Nancy Koeckenberg's family will sit down to their annual Easter breakfast.

Like usual, they'll take their seats at three long tables — constructed years ago by Koeckenberg's dad — and admire the festive tablecloths — sewn years ago by her mom.

Just like every year, the breakfast will be eaten in the small basement of Koeckenberg's Greenfield home — built decades ago by her grandfather.

But her guests will see something different at their places this year — a memory book, compiled by Koeckenberg, to commemorate the family's 100th annual Easter breakfast.

An Easter tradition followed a family from Germany to Greenfield

Koeckenberg's grandparents, Alfred and Hertha, started the family's Easter breakfast tradition in 1924, their first year together as a married couple, and just a few days after their first child — Koeckenberg's dad — was born.

While those first few Easters in the German city of Regensburg were not as large as they would be in later years, they did mark the beginning of what would become a key part of the Koeckenberg Easter breakfast — their Easter eggs.

It was customary in that part of Germany to prepare soft-boiled eggs in muslin bags with onion skins, resulting in a tan color — not quite as vivid as the Paas-and-vinegar dyed eggs of modern American Easters — but quite tasty, according to Koeckenberg and her cousin, Jack Franciskovic.

Alfred and Hertha would eventually move to Wausau, where they lived with their four children. Later, the family moved to the north side of Milwaukee, and in 1952, Alfred built the house in Greenfield which is currently owned by Koeckenberg and her sister.

Everywhere the family moved, their Easter tradition went with them. The breakfast, which was hosted by Koeckenberg's grandparents until 1958, then by her parents and now by her, has grown as the family has grown; in recent years, more than 40 people have typically attended. Koeckenberg is expecting 60 this year.

You would think that a basement which can hold 60 people for breakfast each year would be spacious. According to Koeckenberg and Franciskovic, you would be wrong.

"It's not even a rec room or anything; it's just a basement," Franciskovic said.

"It's truly a stinky, damp basement," Koeckenberg agreed. "With the tables my dad made, we can seat about 36 people. It's quite packed so we eat in shifts, and people make it work."

The family will attempt to squeeze a fourth small table into the mix this year to allow 40 people to eat in the first shift; there won't be much room to walk.

"Once you're in, you're in," Koeckenberg said.

Dozens of eggs, pounds of Polish sausage and a change from china to Chinet plates

The Easter tradition is beloved enough that several family members asked Koeckenberg for the soft-boiled egg recipe so they could replicate it when the annual breakfast was virtual for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic.

And when a family tradition is that important and has lasted that long, some of those traditions become revered to the point that change is not allowed. The soft-boiled eggs — considered the star of the show — fall into that category.

To start the cooking process, approximately 18 eggs are placed in a muslin bag, which is then boiled with onion skins in a large egg pot; this work is done in shifts by the family's designated "egg men."

"When I was a kid, my dad and my dad's brother were the original egg men," Koeckenberg said. "Now it's four guys — three sons-in-law and a cousin."

The men start with the first batch of eggs, which invariably is not quite right. If an egg is determined to be too soft or too runny, it's consigned to the tester bowl. Also, invariably, by the end of the morning, someone will have consumed the contents of that tester bowl.

When the first few batches of eggs are deemed perfect, the men start transporting them in bowls down to the first seating of breakfasters in the basement. The family typically eats about 16 dozen eggs, and, according to Koeckenberg and Franciskovic, nobody eats just one. In fact, a second cousin is rumored to have eaten 30 one year.

"When someone says, 'I'll have two or three,' by the time breakfast is over, they've probably eaten six," Koeckenberg said. "After my dad died, my mom asked everyone if we should replace the soft-boiled eggs with something like an egg bake instead.

"There was a resounding 'No!' from everybody."

Koeckenberg said much of the rest of the menu has also remained the same over the years with a few changes to appeal to younger generations' taste buds.

There's always sausage, both fresh and smoked; it used to be German, but the family has become accustomed to Klement's Polish sausage now. There's also a variety of homemade baked goods — dozens of rolls, coffee cakes, bars and pecan rolls. Koeckenberg said the pecan rolls used to be second only to the soft-boiled eggs as the star of the breakfast, but the younger generations prefer cheesecake bars. Fruit salad was also added to the menu a few years ago.

As for drinks, big jugs of Catawba pink wine used to be the beverage of choice.

"There was always jug wine for the holidays and in our family cottage when Jack and I were kids," Koeckenberg said. "We called it fruit juice, and when I was little, I probably thought it really was fruit juice."

Since it's more difficult to find those jugs of wine (or fruit juice) than it used to be, the family now serves mimosas for the grown-ups.

"Yeah, we bumped it up a little bit," Koeckenberg said, laughing.

Koeckenberg and her cousin's wife, Sandy, fought for one key change to the breakfast a few years ago.

"My mother and grandmother insisted on glass plates, china on the table," Koeckenberg said. "Even though we were eating in the basement, it was still a proper Easter breakfast so that's what we ate on."

After the meal, those plates were always washed in the basement utility sinks. And that work, according to Koeckenberg and Sandy Franciskovic, was "absolutely backbreaking."

So, in recent years, Koeckenberg broached the topic to her mom, Darlene, of using Chinet dinner plates instead.

"My mom, well, I'm going to say it, she lost her sh**," Koeckenberg said. "She said we are not having Easter breakfast with paper plates.

"I said, no, not paper, Mom, Chinet."

The next Easter turned out to be Darlene's last Easter before she died, and she ate her meal on her glass plate, while everyone else had Chinet. And, ever since, the new Chinet tradition — with less back-breaking cleanup required — has remained.

'I'll get this family to 100 Easters, and every year after that is a bonus'

After the family has eaten their breakfast in shifts and the cleanup is done, the kids head outside to hunt for eggs, and they receive Easter baskets. While the family's typical cutoff for participation in the egg hunt is 16 years old, Koeckenberg fudges that a bit, giving gift cards to the older teenagers.

And then the age limit was completely thrown out the window in 2017 when the adults decided they needed an egg hunt of their own. So, now, after the kids' eggs have been found, the teenagers go back outside to hide giant eggs for the adults. And instead of jelly beans, chocolate and coins, the grown-ups get miniature bottles of alcohol and larger denominations of cash.

Koeckenberg said the traditional festivities usually wrap up around noon, at which time most people leave, especially the younger families who have other Easter events to attend. But a few people always hang around, playing Sheepshead, chatting and then settling in for Easter dinner.

"A ham will usually go in the oven, and we'll have round two," Koeckenberg said. "With leftover homemade rolls, fruit salad and maybe some cheesy potatoes."

Franciskovic said more people than usual will likely hang around after the egg hunts this year because some family members are traveling from out of town to celebrate the 100th breakfast. The cousins feel a bit more sentimental than usual about this year's breakfast, reflecting upon the closeness of their family as they plan on adding a few thoughts to the traditional before-breakfast commentary.

"To start the breakfast, we always read a little something about our family, and we welcome whoever is new that year with a joke about the basement," Koeckenberg said. "When we clean it out every year, we always say we leave just a few cobwebs to catch the memories."

Koeckenberg has paid attention to the faces of the younger kids as she's shared her family history over the past few years, and she's glad to see they always seem interested. She also noted that the generation of cousins who are in their late 20s and 30s are particularly close-knit; she thinks they'll carry on the Easter tradition torch.

"I've told everyone that I'll get this family to 100 Easters, and every year after that is a bonus," Koeckenberg said. "I've always had a hope that it would continue after I can't host it anymore, and I have a feeling it just might."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin family celebrates 100th annual Easter breakfast