Wurstfest is the Best

When most people think of Texas they think of cowboy hats, boots or Mexican food not a German celebration. Well, 50 years in the making and Wurstfest has become a huge Texas tradition and celebration located in New Braunfels. Essentially, it’s a unique celebration rich in German culture complete with food, special events and the finest in Alpine and Bavarian Style Entertainment. And this year we decided to head on down.

Not only is New Braunfels home to Wurstfest but it’s right next door to some of the best shopping in the State – the San Marcos Premium Outlets and the Tanger Outlet. With so many stores in one area you really have to plan ahead to see everything. You can’t see all of these stores in one day so you’ll need to either narrow down your shopping list or stay a few extra days. Either way, print out the maps to help you prioritize. (Some of the stores forgot they were outlet stores and did not have the typical outlet prices but we did manage to find some great deals.) Five hours later we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to our hotel in New Braunfels to get ready for Wurstfest!

Instead of taking our own car, dealing with parking and then having to drive back to the hotel after a few beers we chose to take the Wurst Wagen. It’s a very cool service in that the bus, which is sponsored by the New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce and Wurstfest, picks you up at your hotel and then takes you home. We were able to prepay online and for $20 each you get a roundtrip ride from your hotel and admission into the Wurstfest ($8 each at the gate).

There were rides and a ton of food vendors under the big tent. Every German item you could think of was there to eat. There were several Ompaa bands playing and lots of people dancing the Polka. I was looking forward to doing the Chicken Dance…I guess I missed it.

When I was planning the trip I came across a little club online called One Arm Raised. It’s a silly social club where everyone raises one arm and holds a beer with the other hand… for no particular reason. Sounded good to me so I decided to join. Once you join you get to pick a title (Director of ______). I was Director of Badassness and my boyfriend was Director of Drunkedness. Everyone met in person at Wurstfest to raise one arm at 9pm. We received our official badges and got several stickers like “Super Hottie” to stick on strangers passing by. This was a great way to meet people because everyone wanted to know why we had one arm raised and wanted to join in on the fun. It was a blast. If you are planning to attend Wurstfest you should join One Arm Raised! They are there every year.

Tips
• If you just need tickets into the Wurstfest you can download a discount coupon and get $2 off each ticket from the website Wurstfest.com.
• The lines are very long to buy tickets at the gate so I recommend getting them in advance or riding the bus.
• Once at Wurstfest we had to purchase beer tickets; $17 for a pitcher. We bought four pitchers worth of tickets so we wouldn’t have to stand in the ticket line again.

Future Wurstfest Dates
Wurstfest always starts on the Friday before the first Monday in November.
• 2011 – November 4–13
• 2012 – November 2-11