GermanFest cancelled for revamping

Gluckstadt’s 36th annual GermanFest has been canceled this year due to parking concerns and key players being absent, says Father Matthew Simmons at St. Joseph Catholic Church. 

Simmons said he eventually made the call to cancel the festival after concluding there would not be enough parking to accommodate everyone participating due to Gluckstadt’s growth in the last year. 

He said along with the parking situation, he also noted that people who played major roles in the festival’s success last year would not be participating this year. 

“We are not saying GermanFest is permanently canceled,” Simmons said. “We’re going to take this year to re-evaluate and look into things like a workaround for the parking. I didn’t want the event this year to be something that didn’t go well for people who travel a long way to get here, and I didn’t want us to not be ready for everything. Next year, we’ll have more time to identify people in key roles for GermanFest and figure out the parking situation.” 

Simmons said he and the rest of the people at St. Joseph are thankful for the support of the festival in past years from the general population. 

“We’re hopeful we can bring GermanFest back next year,” he said. “A lot of people involved have a long history here and have a lot of expertise. We’re all open to ideas on how we can make this work.” 

Church member Kerry Minninger said in a Facebook post on Monday that sauerkraut, a staple at GermanFest every year, will still be available and to expect more information soon.  

“We would like to thank everyone who has supported our GermanFest over the past 30 years,” Minninger said. “Due to the tremendous growth in the City of Gluckstadt, we decided to take a year off in order to evaluate how we can update our festival and share our heritage with the surrounding community.” 

For more information, call St. Joseph Catholic Church at (601) 856-2054.