Gruenau German settlers organized a Turnverein, or athletic club, and a Schuetzen Verein, or shooting club, about 1897, and a brass band sometime in the early 1890s. The community's club hall, built in 1900, was also used for dances and for the rifle team activities; contests with neighboring communities became major events, including feasts, dances, and the crowning of a Schuetzen-Koenig, or king of the riflemen.