The Wurst is Yet to Come

Sausage and beer extravaganza Wurstfest returns to New Braunfels for 2024

Wurstfest returns for its 63rd year this November.

Photo courtesy of Wurstfest

German culture is on display in many subtle ways throughout Texas' historic towns; Wurstfest is not one of those ways. This oompah-driven, battered-and-fried, lederhosen-clad beer and sausage festival is coming back to New Braunfels for its annual festivities November 1-10.

This is the 63rd year for the Hill Country festival, which takes place on a German-style compound with an exhibition hall, rows upon rows of fair food stalls, imported beers on tap, sausage making stations, children's carnival rides, traditional costumes, and other artisan goods. (More than 20 nonprofits benefit from theses sales.) Since many revelers stay all day, a robust entertainment lineup keeps things fresh on five stages as the beer continues to flow.

Wustfest New Braunfels aerial The Wurstfest grounds expect to see more than 200,000 visitors over the 10-day festival.Photo courtesy of Wurstfest

More than 40 bands, many of whom are visiting from other cities and countries, will play more than 250 sets. They include:

Grammy-award winning polka musician Jimmy Sturr and his Orchestra
New Braunfels' own Grammy-nominated accordionist Alex Meixner
Germany's Munchholzhauser Blaskapella
New York's Die Schlauberger
International Polka Association's 2019 International Band of the Year, Squeezebox with Mollie B

Although some of these sets do begin to blend together when treated as background music, there is plenty of variety between the bands and genres. The rousing oompah genre is probably what most people think of for a German festival, but there will also be polka (more Czech, while oompah bands are more Bavarian), yodeling, and gentler waltzes.

“Music has been an integral part of the Wurstfest celebration since its inception in 1961,” said 2024 Wurstfest President Sherman Krause. “Whether its oompah, polka, yodeling or a waltz, they are classic German genres that get people out onto the dance floor, swaying in their seats and cheering and singing along with the bands."

Alex Meixner at Wurstfest Alex Meixner is a regular at Wurstfest.Photo courtesy of Wurstfest

A band is scheduled to play every hour of the festival on alternating stages. The full lineup is available at wurstfest.com. Alex Meixner and Mollie B and Squeezebox will get the festival going with the customary “biting of the sausage,” like a ribbon-cutting where people all simultaneously take their first bite of a long string of sausages.

Tickets are available online ($18-20) through October 31. Then they'll be available at the gate ($22.50-25). Admission is free Mondays through Thursdays, and certain other days are free or include a second day using coupons from the official website. Operating hours are Mondays through Thursdays from 5-10 pm, Fridays from 5-11 pm, Saturdays from 11 am to midnight, and Sundays from 11 am to 10 pm.

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NYT loves AUS

Pastry chef from San Antonio makes New York Times Best Bakeries list

Comadre Panadería/Instagram

Comadre Panadería is known for nostalgic Mexican bakes with feminine flair.

The New York Times has once again shined its spotlight on Austin’s culinary scene. It included Comadre Panadería, an Austin bakery by San Antonio native Mariela Camacho, on its new list of the 22 of the Best Bakeries Across the U.S. Right Now.

Interim food critic Priya Krishna praises pastry chef Camacho’s pastries that include conchas and her signature pink cake. “Despite their saccharine appearances, not one of the desserts is overly cloying, and even the coffee drinks (Texas pecan horchata! Cranberry vanilla agua fresca!) strike the playful tone of the pastries,” she writes.

Comadre Panadería has been widely recognized, including by this publication; Camacho, who is now based in Ausitn, won Pastry Chef of the Year in the 2023 CultureMap Austin Tastemaker Awards. She also earned a 2024 James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.

Camacho and Comadre as a whole are both invested in using baked goods to make a more equitable world, from the bakery's early days as a fundraiser for disaster relief, to a current insistence on charging enough to support ethical and organic foods, and paying staff enough to keep up with rising costs in Austin.

Although Camacho was born in San Antonio and started her baking career there, she also spent a significant time in Seattle, Washington, where Comadre started as a pop-up. According to Austin Monthly, she then moved back to San Antonio, and then to Austin. But no matter where she is, the Mexican cooking traditions of her ancestors take precedent.

Mariela Camacho of Comadre Panaderia in Austin Mariela Camacho, Comadre Panaderia. Courtesy photo

The Times also recognized Houston's Koffeteria. Krishna hails the bakery for pastry chef-owner Vanarin Kuch’s creative fare that includes dishes such as beef pho kolaches, Chinese sausage breakfast tacos, and butter mochi.

“Some of Mr. Kuch’s offerings are rooted in his Cambodian American identity — he makes cornbread with the coconutty, scallion-forward flavors of Cambodian street corn — while others are odes to Houston’s multicultural makeup. But most of the fun of Koffeteria is having no idea what Mr. Kuch will do next, and eagerly awaiting his next innovation,” Krishna writes.

Open since 2019, Koffeteria has been riding high this year. It earned a James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Bakery and a CultureMap Houston Tastemaker Award for Pastry Chef of the Year.

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Comadre Panadería and Koffeteria are the only Texas establishments to make the Times’ list. Only California and New York City, which each have three representatives, earn more recognition.

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