Wurstfest in New Braunfels: Austin Travels

Time for our weekly Austin Travels. You already know a little something about this. Mari Elba with Austin Travels here to talk about Worst Fest. It's such a tradition around here. I know it's a big deal to you. And it gets bigger and bigger every year. It does. It does. I think it started as, you know, this small one-day sausage festival in 1961. And now it's grown to be the biggest Oktoberfest celebration in Texas. I think last year they saw 240,000 people come through their gates. Well, if you've tried to get over there, if you haven't made a plan before getting over there, you know and you and you go back to where you came from so planning is important first of all what can people expect out there this year well this year is Worst Fest 65th celebration so it takes place on november 6th through 15th and it's just a whole lot of fun yeah 10 days of german food culture music you can't really beat it beer beer might be a beer too they go along with the sausage yeah the food the food and drink goes uh front and center for sure exactly and new this year they're going to be um actually they will be introducing an expanded offering of german wine oh really so yes there will be and there's you know sodas and waters sure for sure absolutely i have i don't think about germany necessarily when i think about wine that's kind of interesting yeah for sure okay um also this year you can catch sausage making demonstrations on saturdays and sundays and see how the sausage is made exactly do that but yeah exactly but definitely come hungry bring your appetite you know um Wurstfest is about so much more than just you know the sausage and the beer there's 25 non-profits that operate food booths and you know just come hungry eat lots of food because they get to reinvest the profits they make at Wurstfest all all year long throughout the community i think that's so cool when an event like this when the community gets so behind it and you think wow it's such a great time but we We can really do some good through this. So I'm sure so many of those organizations, so much of what they bring in is probably dependent on their time during Wurstfest. It is, and they make some good food. Yeah, it's great stuff. All right, so again, do you do kind of want a little plan, maybe, depending on if you're going just as a couple or you're going to bring in the whole family? I guess some days are better than others. Some times might be better than others. Absolutely. I know you're a veteran of all this. You probably have some opinions on that matter. I would say, you know, go during the weekdays if you can. Wurstfest has free admission Monday through Thursdays after 3 p.m. as well as the last Sunday. But, you know, there aren't as many crowds, and you can really maximize your time there. You can, you know, there are fewer rides, you know, lines at the rides and the carnival. You can get your Wurstentaschen right here behind me. I'm glad you said that. I just want to eat it. I don't need to say it. It's good. It's a grilled bratwurst and a pita with sauerkraut, onions, peppers. It's delicious. Pork chops on a stick. you know you see really long lines for all of those popular foods during the weekends and the weekdays you can just buzz right up there and every year some people really give sauerkraut a chance for the first time and it changes their life it's so it's good it's good for you too yeah it's delicious yeah I love it yes and again it's just such a great thing and of course the weather could be glorious or it could be a little I guess a little hotter or cold you get everything it was gonna be perfect okay but Austin Travels has this all out this month in the magazine so go to austintravels.com we've got a great um kind of Q&A with the folks who put on the festival every year and they give you a great kind of like insider's glance at what makes the festival so unique yeah and i think it's i think it's really cool to kind of dig into the history of it too like i said an event that's uh gotten so big and done so much good for so many people and so popular in this community so be ready for that coming up in early november read about it in Austin Travels and so many other good tidbits as well. Marielbo, thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it.