On Saturday, March 1, 2025, visitors in winter coats and elaborate handmade masks gathered with locals for Helvetia’s community-wide Fasnacht celebration. As part of the event, a rapt crowd filled the pews of the town’s Zion Presbyterian Church to hear Heidi Fahrner Arnett, Eleanor Betler, and Maura Hofer share personal stories about what it was like to grow up in Helvetia and their memories of the festival’s early years.