Tuesday, December 10, 2024 at 3:32 AM
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Das Festival moving to Main Plaza in ‘25

Das Festival moving to Main Plaza in ‘25

Das Festival of Kendall organizers recently announced a move to a new location in 2025 — back to Main Plaza.

Das Festival, a rebirth of the gone-dormant Burges Fest, brought German tradition back to life on its usual calendar spot, Father’s Day. Its inaugural effort last June saw a parade of more than 70 entries stream down Main Street before two days of festivities launched out at Random Beer Garden.

“We’re excited; that was my biggest goal, to bring it back, like I remember it was,” said one of the Das Festival organizers, Veronica Brown.

“This is a festival that is continuing a tradition. It’s not just ‘another festival. Town Plaza was our biggest goal, it was a dream come true,” Brown said.

Das Festival of Kendall rekindles the German-based traditions of Burges Fest — from the food and drink, to the contests and music. Dachshund races, beer stein holding, wheelbarrow races, all were part of the original fest.

“We’re trying to bring the pageants back,” Brown said. “We’ll still have the Dachshund races, wheelbarrow races, beer stein holding, also the egg toss, and watermelon eating contest.”

Brown said the festival was pleased with the turnout and the fund-raising

Das Festival of Kendall organizers turned out to Walmart recently, pulled together some funds, and purchased almost $1,000 of gifts for the Angel Tree in the store. The Angel Tree helps fulfill “wish list” Christmas gifts for Boerne area children from less fortunate homes. On hand were Kelly, left, and Das Festival President Dave Parent, Festival Second Vice President Veronica Brown, and Directors Patti Mainz and Chase Martin.

Courtesy photo done in Year One.

“Last Father’s Day weekend, I went up to the mayor (Frank Ritchie) and said, ‘I want to have this at the town plaza,” she recounted. “He said, ‘You’re going to have it at the plaza.’” One Das Festival director was working with Ritchie in getting things arranged with other events going on downtown — a move certain to increase turnout.

“Our main goals are reintroducing it to people and bringing in the newcomers to Boerne who have never experienced it before, who have no idea what Burges Fest even was,” she said.

As quickly as Das Festival is able to relocate back downtown, Brown and the Festival board share a common dream, a not-unreachable goal.

“Our goal would be to outgrow it. We’d like to return the canoe races, the lawn mower races, mud volleyball, the huge carnival, a lot of things that might resemble the Burges Fest footprint that just can’t be done downtown,” she added. Brown said such a move would occur when the festival begins to be so big that attractions, vendors, stages and parking mean it needs more room to satisfy turnout.

“Joshua Springs Preserve would be an ideal spot for as large as we’d like this to grow,” she said. “Massive bands, several stages, access to the water, the open land.”

The town plaza is where the city had the festival for more than 60 years, so a return almost felt necessary, in a way, she added.

“It’s just amazing, we got all the players involved that we wanted. Boerne just supports Boerne in all respects,” she said. “This is year four working on this; we’re just excited to keep it going.”

All money raised by the festival goes toward area charities. Last year, Das Festival targeted four: Heartland Children’s Home, Comfort Table and Food Pantry, Kendall County Women’s Shelter and Comfort Golden Age Center. Checks were presented to each in the months that followed.

“We’re not making money on this; it all goes to our charities,” she said. “We had the four last year; we’re debating staying at four, or going down to two, so we can give even more money than before.”


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