The Six Fat Dutchmen was a polka

Polka

The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...

 band formed around 1932 by Harold Loeffelmacher

Harold Loeffelmacher

Harold Loeffelmacher was an American musician and bandleader best known for forming the polka band known as the Six Fat Dutchmen. The band, based in New Ulm, Minnesota, traveled extensively and played as many as 335 dates per year, mostly in the Midwestern United States...

 in New Ulm, Minnesota

New Ulm, Minnesota

New Ulm is a city in Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,522 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Brown County....

. The band was known mostly for playing the "Oom-pah

Oom-pah

Oom-pah, Oompah or Umpapa is the rhythmical sound of a deep brass instrument in a band, a form of background ostinato.The oom-pah sound is usually made by the tuba alternating between the root of the chord and the 5th — this sound is said to be the oom...

" style of polka music that originated from Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and the German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

. They were regular performers at the then-famous George’s Ballroom

George’s Ballroom

George's Ballroom is an American ballroom on Center Street in New Ulm, Minnesota. It was built in 1947 and became a popular spot for young couples reuniting after World War II...

 in New Ulm, and were voted Number One Polka Band for seven years in a row by the National Ballroom Operators Association. Compilations of their music continue to be produced and sold, more than 70 years after the band's founding.

Like Bill Monroe

Bill Monroe

William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...

’s Bluegrass Boys, the band provided the name to its musical genre, "Dutchman Music". http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/courses/fall/2006/20a/listening_notes_2.html As might be surmised from the band's name, there were initially six members, but over time it grew to include about a dozen musicians. The band appeared often on a local television station in Mankato, Minnesota

Mankato, Minnesota

Mankato is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 39,309 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth largest city in Minnesota outside of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The county seat of Blue Earth County, it is located...

, and their popularity grew to the point where they played the Nebraska State Fair

Nebraska State Fair

The Nebraska State Fair is a state fair held annually in Grand Island. It is an approximately ten-day event; since the early 1990s, the fair ends on Labor Day. Prior to 2010, the fair was held in Lincoln, Nebraska.-History:...

 for 26 straight years. The Six Fat Dutchmen played the Aragon and Trianon ballrooms in Chicago, broadcasting live on radio station WGN

WGN (AM)

WGN is a radio station in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is the only radio station owned by the Tribune Company, which also owns the flagship television station WGN-TV, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and Chicago magazine locally. WGN's transmitter is located in Elk Grove Village, Illinois...

.

They enjoyed a 14 year recording career with RCA Victor, during which they recorded 800 songs. After parting ways with RCA, the band recorded for Dot Records

Dot Records

Dot Records was an American record label and company that was active between 1950 and 1977. It was founded by Randy Wood. In Gallatin, Tennessee, Wood had earlier started a mail order record shop, known for its radio ads on WLAC in Nashville and its R&B air personality Bill "Hoss" Allen...

 for ten years.

The 1995 compilation CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 "The Six Fat Dutchmen's Greatest Hits" earned a 3.5 star rating (out of 5) in Allmusic. [] Another compilation, "Greatest Hits Volume 2" was released in 2006. []

Some of their vintage television appearances have made their way to the popular YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

 website. Singer and saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

 player Dick Dale

Dick Dale (singer)

Dick Dale is an American singer and musician, best known as a featured singer and saxophone player on the TV variety show The Lawrence Welk Show....

 (not the guitarist by the same name) was briefly a member of the Six Fat Dutchmen, before he became a regular on the long-running American television variety series, The Lawrence Welk Show

The Lawrence Welk Show

The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...

.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/FAMOUSIOWANS/601150359

In 1990, three years after the death of Harold Loeffelmacher, he and his Six Fat Dutchmen were inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame

Minnesota Music Hall of Fame

The Minnesota Music Hall of Fame is located at First North Street and Broadway in New Ulm, Minnesota, USA, in the former public library. It has memorabilia of individual musicians and musical groups as well as photographs of all who have been inducted...

.http://www.mnmusichalloffame.org/inductees.html

Partial discography

• 6 Fat Dutchmen (RCA Victor LSP-1769) 1958
• Schottisches (1958)
• Polka Parade! (Hamilton Records, HLP 121) 1964
• On Tour (Dot DLP 25734) 1960s
• Polkas: Greatest Hits! (Dot DLP 25358) 1960s
• Polka's No. 1 Band (Polka City PC-402) 1970s
• Ten Fat Hits! (Pickwick SPC-3083) 1970s
• Greatest Hits (Ross) 1995
• Greatest Hits (Polka City PC-6656) 2002
• Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (Polka City PC-1028) 2006