MISSOULA — Situated on the hillside of Caras Park over the weekend was Germanfest, an annual tradition that honors the sister city of Missoula.
“Twenty eight years we have celebrated the cultural connection to our sister city with German fest,” said Arts Missoula Global and Cultural Affairs Director, Udo Fluck.
Global & Cultural Affairs at Arts Missoula began Germanfest in 1993. It started as a way to acknowledge and solidify the friendship between Missoula’s sister city in Germany, Neckargemünd.
“Once a year, celebrate that we have a sister city in Germany, and also share some culture with the local Missoula community,” said Fluck.
“An event like this acknowledges culture acknowledges history, but also acknowledges that we're all in the same boat, we can have fun together we can celebrate each other," said Missoula Mayor John Engen. "And we can enjoy a gorgeous day in Missoula, Montana.”
Since the start of the fest, the two cities have an exchange program, where high school students from Neckargemünd can come to Missoula and study and Missoula students can go to Germany.
“It's just great because when you think about what a sister city connection is, it's being a cultural ambassador, it's, it's making a connection to another place in the world,” said Flucker.
This year’s Germanfest has live music from local tuba band, OKTubafest, authentic German cuisines like braughts, pretzels, pastries and beer.
"Es gab viel spaß und gutes essen." Which translate to, there was lots of fun and good food to eat.
