Das Festival organizers ecstatic with turnout

Turnout for the threeday Das Festival of Kendall exceeded expectations, according to the organization’s president.

Estimates for the June 13-15 attendance runs as high as 8,500, Das Festival President Dave parent said.

“I’m going to say it was at least 100% better than what we thought it was going to be,” Parent said Monday, just hours after the final beers had been poured, pretzels had been sold and band notes had faded away.

Main Plaza housed two large tents all weekend, one covering a stage and tables and chairs for about 300 people, while a second large tent covered the games area, including the six-lane Dachshund and blindfold wheelbarrow track.

Parent said the near-chamber- of-commerce weather, busy festival schedule, name bands and variety of food and sales vendors kept visitors flowing around the plaza.

“I visited with every one of the food vendors and food truck owners, and every one of them said they want to come back,” he said.

The intent of Das Festival of Kendall remains to raise funds for charities. The organization picked four to receive funds from the event: Heartland Children’s Home, Comfort Table and Food Pantry, the Boerne Blaze and Bruno Phillip Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 688.

Although this was the second Das Festival of Kendall — an attempt to rekindle the festivity, livelihood and camaraderie of Berges Fest, which ran 1967-2021 — it was the first in downtown Boerne in the plaza, with shops, eateries, hotels and the Hill Country Mile nearby. Last year’s inaugural festival was staged at Random Bar north of town, near Boerne City Lake.

“We got the right people in the right places,” he said, referring to board members who brought their expertise from being on Berges Fest boards, when that festival lit up the downtown area.

“I really think it was just our good luck we found people like Collins Martin, Jim Abshire and Zane Zenner,” Parent said. “They go way back, 15-20 years ago, on the Berges Fest committee when it was really big.”

The brainstorm to bring back a festival in the German tradition began about three years ago, he said, when four or five people sat around and came up with an idea.

“Now, we’ve got two under our belt. We’ve grown to have 26 or 27 board members, over 50 volunteers all weekend, the sponsorships that came in – it was just fantastic,” he said. “This community just came out. They wanted a good festival, and we delivered.'

Attendees knew the brand names — Bill Goldberg, former WWE wrestler who served as grand marshal; and music legends Ruben V, Patsy Torres and Two Tons of Steel, each highlighting a night on the stage.

“I went out and talked to people before and after (the main acts), and we did not hear one complaint from anybody,” he said.

While the plaza gazebo received a facelift as beer tap central, local breweries stepped up, too.

“We bought beer from them and sold it. We had so many people that came and said, ‘We want our local beers,’ so the breweries stepped up and we were able to deliver,” he said.

“I cannot overstate how much support we had from people all over the Hill Country,” he added.

Where the Das Festival of Kendall organizers only had six weeks to construct the 2024 inaugural Festival, held up while waiting for their official 501(c)(3) designation, this year’s board had a full year to plan for festival no. 2.

“The marketing was phenomenal. I’d like to take credit for this, but I can’t,” he said. “These people worked their butts off.

“We did this the right way. And in the long run, when we’ve been doing this for four or five years, this will be one of the best festivals this region will have ever seen,” he added.