A Village of Festivals in America’s Bavaria

Leavenworth, Washington is not some cheesy, fly-by-night theme park, but an architecturally honest replica of Germany’s Bavaria. All things considered, the buildings are large and true, the smells genuine and the food tasty, although they could lay down a bit more cobblestone. Located on the sunnier eastern side of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state, Leavenworth is surrounded by an alpine world of craggy peaks, rushing streams and lush green meadows along the banks of the Wenatchee River. With a population of 2,500, it offers a refreshing and rare measure of Bavarian authenticity unmatched in the continental United States. I should know as I was raised in south central West Germany, attended their schools and traveled extensively throughout Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland.

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I also spent a long stint in the United States Army defending our American way of life from the pink Soviet hordes amassed along the Czech border, one hand clutching a brown bottle of Pilsner beer and the other my trusty M-16 rifle. So, having lived there for nine years way back when, I get goose bumps whenever we visit Leavenworth and stroll down memory lane awash in Old World familiarity. Leavenworth invokes comforting glimpses of my Germany, or Deutschland as the Deutsche call it. It reminds me of old crumbling castles surrounded by golden wheat fields, mugs of delicious warm beer, narrow cobblestone streets twisting through quiet villages of thatched farm houses, that difficult guttural language with the really long words, Frau Rhode’s hairy legs, my heavy Lederhosen, or short leather pants, the sweet melody of cowbells clinging and accordions wheezing and those thigh-slapping raucous festivals and enormous beer tents and those rousing oompah bands and all of that greasy sausage. "Unfortunately, it also reminds me of sheets of tattooed human skin, gold fillings, cattle cars, mountains of naked corpses, alleged human-skin lampshades, goose-stepping Nazis, the Blitzkrieg and Adolf Hitler." But please, don’t let that stop you from visiting. History aside and out of mind, Leavenworth is a fantastic place to sample a faraway culture. And just look at what you’ll save in airfare.

HISTORY

Leavenworth began as a bustling lumber and railroad town back in the 1800s. An ocean of logs were harvested along the Wenatchee and floated downriver to the staging point at today’s Enchantment Park, many of which were cut up by the Lamb brothers who built the second largest sawmill in the state at the turn of the century. Leavenworth also supported gold-mining operations in the surrounding rugged hills, and like hundreds of other Western boom towns, was plagued by rank lawlessness, rowdy, smoke-filled saloons and steamy disease-infested brothels - the stuff legends are made of. In due time law and order settled in followed by a school, stores, a hospital and an opera house. But what goes boom must go bust and by the mid-20s the railroad pulled out, the lumber industry became a shadow of its former self, a mass exodus ensued and the Greatest Depression for now dealt the final, crippling blow that brought Leavenworth to its knees for the next 35 years. And then, a few enterprising souls had a brilliant vision: “Let’s pretend to be German!” This canny move by these forward-looking pragmatists to “go Bavarian” was fueled in large part by necessity since Leavenworth was, after all, a dying “welfare” town by the 60s and future prospects were dismal at best. It could reinvent itself with a Bavarian facelift and start mining tourists, or be relegated to the dustbin of Western history. From the sound of the cash registers and the million-plus yearly visitors, other struggling communities across America and Canada might pay heed because Leavenworth’s gamble seems to have paid off … in spades.

THE FESTIVALS

Of all the ways to entertain oneself in and around Leavenworth, from outdoor recreation to Art in the Park, attending festivals seems to be the primary attraction. Capitalizing on the people’s insatiable need to have a good time, Leavenworth is hosting around 15 festivals this year. The biannual Choral Festival featuring five choirs and over 200 voices got things going on April 10, followed a week later by the Ale Fest Nutcracker Museum Fundraiser that usually serves up 20 micro-brews, entertainment and food on behalf of several worthy causes. Maifest held in May is one of your best bets for witnessing traditional German pole dancing. Fortunately for all, these lederhosen-clad pole dancers keep their pants on as they prance and stomp to the sound of traditional oompah music. The townsfolk dress up in their finest Bavarian garb, some trot out their splendid Bernese mountain dogs, and tourists from far and wide watch horse-drawn carriages and carts parade in the Grand March and Procession. Leavenworth’s rich mountain environment provides great habitat for birds of all kinds. So why not make a festival out of that as well? For eight years the town and surrounding environment have hosted the Spring Bird Fest which involves more than stalking these feathery friends with binocular and zoom lens. There are bird-centric science and education programs, art and conservation displays and hikes for novice and experienced birders alike. I’m not sure brews and bikes mix well, unless the former follows the latter, but if breathing heavy, sweating hard and grinding gears cross-country revs your engine, make sure to check out the Bavarian Bike and Brews Festival in early June. Do you prefer the grape over grain and hops? Then pay a visit to the Leavenworth Wine Walk and Stumble Fest, also held in early June where you can indulge in over 20 varieties of Northwest wines. If you stick around a few weeks you’ll be dazzled by three days and nights of accordion music at the International Accordion Celebration where some of the world’s finest musicians are certain to entertain, educate and tingle your ears with traditional Bavarian harmonies, Jazz, ethnic music, some classical and a mix of popular tunes. (Jazz? Accordion Jazz?). Traditional dancing from such countries as Mexico, the Philippines, Croatia and Brazil are represented by Northwest dance groups who assemble for the International Dance Festival near the end of June. The under-appreciated art of quilt-making, and it really is art in the finest sense, is celebrated in September at the annual Quilt Fest. If you’ve never seen great quilts with their stunning array of patterns and exquisite designs, you’re in for a real treat. Do you like Salmon? Celebrate them at the Wenatchee River Salmon Festival. How about leaves? Do you like leaves? Then come celebrate the crimson and gold during the Washington State Autumn Leaf Festival, considered by many the granddaddy of festivals held now for over 45 years (September 24-26). Folks don’t come from around the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia simply to rake them off the locals’ lawns and watch the colorful floats at the Grand Parade at noon on Saturday. The fun-filled weekend also serves up a variety of family entertainment, dancing, concerts, arts and crafts, and ethnic food of all kinds. Everybody’s heard of Germany’s festival of festivals, Oktoberfest near Munich. While not as grand as the real thing which draws six million visitors a year and erects special tents that hold as many as 8,000 drunks at one time, Leavenworth hosts its own Oktoberfest, a natural draw for award-winning bands from Deutschland and elsewhere. There’s also children’s activities, more arts and crafts and dancing and German food and an obligatory chicken dance I’ve never heard of before. And did I mention all of that beer? Oktoberfest is held during three weekends in October, with the center of gravity for festivities being the local Festhalle. You know your little town has made the big time when you attract the attention of Arts and Entertainment Television which designated Leavenworth’s Christmas Lighting Festival as the premier Christmas festival in the USA. The well-deserved accolades didn’t go unnoticed by Good Morning America, Home and Garden Television and the Travel Channel who tipped their hats as well. So whether you’re here to roast your chestnuts on an open fire, ride an open horse-drawn carriage through the streets of make-believe Bavaria, send your kids sledding over at Front Street Park, buy stuff from one of many specialty gift shops or feast at any number of delicious restaurants, Christmas in Leavenworth won’t be like Christmas anywhere else you’ve experienced in this country. And if you still haven’t had your fill of festivities, show up next January for the fireworks display at Icefest, and the snow sculpture competitions, and dog sledding, smooshing, the chili cook off and some kind of weight pulling. There seems to be something for everybody all year long. Leavenworth likes a party. But what’s really lacking is a Festfest, a festival to celebrate all the other festivals. I’m certain it would be a hit. Build it, Leavenworth, and they will come in droves, hopefully on the Amtrak that now makes convenient stops at Icicle Station. Just remember to provide plenty of Bratwurst, Wiener schnitzel, Lowenbrau and a few accordions to help take minds off the subtext that hovers just beneath the surface of a long history of cheery Germanic Bavarian culture.

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