German Heritage Stays Alive Through Traditions and Festivals
boerne, boerne area historical preservation society, culture, texas hill country,
Today it’s, “howdy, y’all,” but in 1849 German immigrants said “guten tag” to the Texas Hill Country and settled in Boerne, a place they named for German poet and publicist Ludwig Börne.
“When they came here, they committed themselves to a whole new life,” says Betty Edmonds, president of the Boerne Area Historical Preservation Society. “They brought all their customs with them, including their music and culture. They started schools, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker and all that. And the language was all German until the mid 1900s.”
According to Edmonds, many descendants of the original settlers have either passed or moved away. But even though their farms are being sold and developed, Boerne’s history has been preserved.
“We’ve done oral histories and gathered all the old pictures of how Boerne used to be,” Edmond says. “We’ve recorded family histories, stories of the businesses and how they started and how it was for the Germans when they came here in 1849.”
“Boerne is about 25 miles from San Antonio, and San Antonio is moving this way,” adds Larry Woods, director of the Boerne Convention and Visitors Bureau. “The town is growing, and we’re always trying to find ways to keep the German heritage growing.”
The most popular tradition involves performances by the Boerne Village Band, the longest continually performing German band outside of Germany, who play the Abendkonzerte, or evening concerts, in spring and summer.
Princesses and duchesses in traditional German garb are crowned during Berges Fest, a parade and festival every Father’s Day weekend. Summer fun activities are also in the mix, including an egg toss, watermelon eating contest and dachshund races.
“We have a main plaza downtown with a great gazebo where the band sets up and plays, and there’s a big park that’s attached,” Woods says. “They do oompa German music, patriotic songs and, of course, the Chicken Dance. People come and bring their lawn chairs, blankets and food – it’s amazing the crowds this band draws.”
European influences shine during the holiday season, as well. Boerne puts on the annual Dickens on Main, a festival that runs for two weekends after Thanksgiving, and the Weihnachts Fest Parade, which happens the first Saturday in December.
“Dickens on Main is very traditional with period costumes from Dickens’ characters and the shops along Main Street are open late,” Woods says. “Weihnachts is large parade for a town the size of Boerne. Last year we had over 110 entries.”
There’s also the Boerne Schuetzen Verein, or shooting club, which continues a tradition started by the early settlers in 1864 as a way to relax after a long, hard week.
“It’s the oldest shooting club in the United States,” Edmonds says. Members stand on stair-stepped wooden ramps and shoot at targets 100 yards away.
But there doesn’t have to be an event to remind locals and visitors of Boerne’s German heritage – all it takes is a quick walk around town.
“We have a lot of historical buildings on the National Register [of Historic Places],” Edmonds says. “And we have more we consider historical because of their age and architecture. The German settlers used limestone and the old cypress wood ingeniously and made the architecture their own. It doesn’t look like the architecture in Germany because they had to adapt to what they had here, but the buildings are sound and they’re still here today.”
Story by Danny Bonvissuto
