2nd Annual GermanFest

The 2nd Annual GermanFest Heritage Festival took place on June 19th-21st at the Historic Schmidt Brewery site. After having the success that the inaugural festival had in 2014, it was easy to imagine an even bigger event this year. Once again, the focus was on celebrating German culture through food, entertainment, art, and community. And we received another year of great weather, which helped to attract large crowds, especially on Sunday.

Many of the popular activities were brought back for 2015; these included the Strongman competition, dachshund dog races, many different cultural demonstrations and presentations, and the various walking and bus tours. Our partnership with the St. Paul Fire Department’s Operation Warm was expanded this year, to include a GermanFest/SPFD calendar and a human foosball game (with all proceeds and donations going towards providing children with winter coats).

Of course, without the World Cup viewing party and the re-lighting of the Schmidt sign that took place in 2014, other feature attractions were created for this years’ event. The new activities included a 5K bicycle ride, a Friday night that was open to the public and featured a Beatles re-creation band (Rubber Soul), a large screen showing German films throughout the festival, and an expanded kid’s area. Since Father’s Day fell on the Sunday of GermanFest this year, many families came to spend an afternoon together while exploring their German heritage.

Nearly every upgrade this year proved to be successful. Grouping many of the food vendors together provided a “food row” and allowed people to try different types of German offerings. The marketplace vendors were also grouped closer together and placed in the middle of the festival, encouraging all visitors to shop as they walked from one end of the site to the other. The addition of Festival Director, Linda DeRoode, was critical to expanding GermanFest and for growing FILO’s list of festivals.

FILO looks forward to bringing back GermanFest in 2016 for the 3rd consecutive year, and looks forward to making the festival even bigger and better next year!