Bavarians from two Gauverbände will be at Gaufest

A group of 50 Bavarians will be coming from Bayern to North America and will be attending the 24. Gaufest. Erech Morrison, Ehrenvorstand of GTEV Maple Leaf-Almrausch Ottawa and his Verein have been friends with members of the Heimat und Volkstrachtenverein Salzweg. Salzweg is near Passau in Niederbayern. The groups have paid each other visits several times over their twenty-year friendship. This year they will be accompanied by the Gau-Gruppe of the Oberer Lechgauverband.

They will arrive in New York on June 14, with stops in New York, Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, Sandusky, St. Catharines, Toronto, Gananoque (1000 Islands), Ottawa, and Montreal. They will attend the Gaufest, participating in the Heimatabend and performing Ehrentänze. A novel highlight of the visit will be a cultural exchange (dance, song, Tracht) and lunch with Ottawa’s Aboriginal Community, which will include presentations from Ojibway, Algonquian, Mohawk, Intuit, and other communities.

The group of fifty Trachtler and musicisians—“Trachtengruppe of the Dreiflüssegau Passau” and “Gaugruppe of the Oberer Lechgauverband”—will be participating in Heimatabende and musical exchanges with Gau-NA Trachtler including the Schlierachtaler Stamm in New York, Alt Washingtonia in DC, Hofbräuhaus in Pittsburgh, Alpenrösl in St. Catharines, Maple Leaf-Almrausch in Ottawa, and Alpenland Montreal. Sightseeing in all of these cities is also planned, accompanied by friends from local Trachtenvereine. On June 29, the group will fly back to Munich from Montreal.

Included in the group are the Gauvorplattler of each Gauverband. Richard Schenk for Drei-Flüssegau and Martin Kreuzer for the Oberer Lechgau. Alois Haidn is the 2. Gauvorstand for the Drei-Flüssegau, Franz Schauberger is the 1. Gaukassier, and Horst Wipplinger is the Mayor of Salzweg.

They have a really packed schedule, and Erech will be accompanying them on their entire trip. Sounds like quite an adventure!

Be sure to look for them at the Gaufest or in one of the cities they’ll be visiting. Their music, dancing, and presence will surely add to our enjoyment of the Gaufest.

For more about our Trachtenkameraden, go to their website at www.nordamerikareise2013.de.  They will be visiting NYC (June 14-Heimatabend with Schlierachtaler Stamm); Washington, D.C. (June 17-Heimatabend with Alt Washingtonia); Pittsburgh (June 19-visit with D’Pittsburgher at Hofbräuhaus); St. Catharines (June25-Heimatabend with Alpenrösl); and Ottawa (June 27-Heimatabend with Maple Leaf-Almrausch). Contact any of these Vereine for more details.