Resort holds German festival

WESLACO — Kraut, brats and beer will be some of the cuisine on hand as the Southern Comfort Resort celebrates German Fest, a festival for all things German.

The annual celebration is slated for Jan. 18, but plans for the festival are already under way. The party will be include traditional German treats such as dancing and polka music.

Festival organizer George Rider talked about some of the foods that would be offered at the party.

“We’re going to cook brats, and over 100 pounds of potatoes for some German potato salad we’ll fry up about 15 pounds of bacon and put it into the potato salad, fat and all,” Rider said. “And German people like to eat something sweet with their meal so we’ll be making German chocolate cake and a jelly fruit nut salad as part of the main course.”

If the edible amenities simply won’t suffice, traditional polka music will be provided by Lyle Beaver.

“There will be lots of food so we’ll need to dance it off,” said activity coordinator Verda Nelson.

Co-organizer Wanda Rider talked about some out-of-country participants who dress the part to fully commemorate the event.

“There is a contingent of German extraction people who come fully dressed in lederhosen and other traditional outfits,” she said.

George Rider said, “They like to come to this event in costume and they really dance.”

Event coordinators said German Fest is open to all area residents. In many cases, the hard part isn’t getting people to attend the festival, George Rider said, it’s getting them not to.

“One big problem is controlling ticket sales,” he said. “We have people coming from all over but we only have so many tickets. It’s a very popular event.”

“Luckily there are a lot of people involved and a great many people help,” said Wanda Rider.

Past festivals have seen more than 200 participants and it takes several committees to organize the event, Rider said.

“We’ve tried to keep it under 250 people but the tickets sell out every year,” George Rider said.

Proceeds from German Fest are funneled back into the park’s activity fund, but Wanda Rider said that profits are marginal and aren’t a big part of the celebration.

“We don’t make much money off of this,” she said. “Most of the money from the tickets is actually used to throw the thing.”

___

FYI

Tickets for German fest are $8 each. Contact the Southern Comfort Resort main office at 956-968-3140 for ticket and other information.