New Braunfels – When the fall winds finally blow across central Texas, people flock to festivals all over the Lone Star State. One of the most popular jubilees you’ll find is Wurstfest in New Braunfels. Starting during the first weekend of November, and for 10 straight days, they party like the cows aren’t coming home. “It’s just one of the coolest festivals you could go to,” said Miles Granzin, the president of Wurstfest.
Since 1961, Wurstfest has been a best way to experience the German culture that New Braunfels was founded on. But this festival of food, music, dancing, and of course drinking started in 1961 as a salute to sausage by the city meat inspector Ed Grist. “We eat that sausage all year long,” said Jeff Goebel, who comes from a family of serious sausage makers. “We can’t get enough of it.”
Over 40 years later, you’ll still find demonstrations on how to make sausage, But the main attraction might be the music. “We got five different stages,” said Miles. “You can walk around and listen to whatever music. So somebody don’t like that band, just go walk the other one.”
The food could be a big draw too, especially the pork chop on a stick! “Potato pancakes and pork chops, sausage on the stick, and multiple different types of sausage,” said Miles. “It’s something to be proud of even if you’re not even German.”
The German roots of New Braunfels take hold of the city and everyone who visits it every November. “For 10 days, everybody is German,” said Bob DiFonzo, the Grosse Opa of the festival. Bob’s family lineage comes from Italy of course, but he earned the biggest title of all at Wurstfest. “He’s the Grosse Opa,” said Miles. “He is chosen by the president and me and Bobby go back a long time. We’ve gone back for almost 40 years, and we always promised each other whoever made president, the other guy was going to be his Grosse Opa.”
Bob has the unalienable task of making sure everyone is having a blast. “I have a little fun meter and if my fun meter’s not sitting in the red that’s a problem for me,” joked Bob. “We’ll put 200,000 people through here and every one of them will have a good time.”
Trust me, you want to be the Grosse Opa. It’s definitely a feather in your cap. “He is in charge of the parties,” said Miles. “He is the party master. That’s his job to do is make sure everyone’s having fun. We’ll be out walking around and they see the Grosse Opa. They throw me out of the way to get to the grosse Opa.”
To see this many Texans get together and have a good time is fun to see, but what’s fantastic is all the food and booths are run by local non-profits and this is their biggest fundraiser of the year. “The causes that they can support and the funds that they bring in to be able to give back to the community is a beautiful thing,” said Bob.
“When you buy that pork chop on a stick, that money there is going to help a child who cannot afford to play baseball be able to have a uniform, glove, bats, and man that makes you feel good,” said Miles.
Without a doubt, Wurstfest is one of the most fun fundraisers in the Lone Star State, and it’s and well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List. “There’s nothing better in my opinion,” said Jeff. “It’s 10 days of Christmas really.”