Lederhosen hoedown
Singing along, swaying left then right, hand in hand beer glasses raised, “Weisst nicht wie gut ich dir bin! Ja, Ja, Ja, Ja!”
The Golden Spike Arena at the Weber County Fairgrounds filled up with tables and craft booths once again for the annual Hof Winter festival, which took place on Jan. 14 and 15.
Every January the Hof Winterfest brings thousands of people from Utah’s German community, high school students studying the language and culture and those just looking for a good beer and an authentic meal.
Booths line the walls with piantings and dried flower arrangements, and of course, a couple selling traditional German dresses and jackets, pins, wooden toys, carvings, hats and chocolate.
Chocolate wasn’t the only delicious delicacy there for eating. Volker’s Bakery brought baskets brimming with their freshly baked specialty breads and strudels, while Siegfried’s Delicatessen filled peoples plates with potato salads, rotkohl, sauerkraut, spaetzle, wienerschnitzel and wurst. All sold by the ounce. They also had a table filled with cakes and desserts with coffee and capachino.
In an other line were the beers. Bohemian Brewery in Midvale supplied its “Legendary Collection of European Beers” to fill an estimated 700 glasses for the estimated 4,000-5,000 visitors to the festival.
The festival keeps its visitors entertaineed with more than food and crafts; it is a fest full of dancing. The Weber State Institute folk dancers and the Snow Canyon High School folk dancers, from St. George, perform in traditional dress some of the old German folk dances. The audience also dances seemingly non-stop to the live music.
The band Salzburger Echo also plays some of the specialty instruments such as the glockenspiel, alpen horns and a full set of cow bells. They have been playing at the Hof Winterfest for as long as they have been around. It was where they played their first show, in 1992.
Another band, Minimax, also filled the hall with many well known “Volkslieder” (German folk songs) including wedding marches and the beloved chicken dance, which got the the crowd flapping thier arms and twirling in circles. They also played one of Elvis Presely’s melodies. Minimax came all the way from Germany in a little town north of Hof to join the celebration.
The city of Hof is on the eastern border of Germany next to the Czech Republic. It is also where the festival gets its name. Hof and Ogden are Sister Cities. This means the two cities have come together to promote cultural learning opportunity and international understanding. The cities make it official by having the mayors from both communities sign, after the approval of the city councils, an agreement at a formal meeting.
This year was thier 51st year as Sister Cities, and the 19th Hof Winterfest.
Michael Sharp is a photographer for the Utah Statesman and is a senior majoring in German and Photography. Comments may be sent to michaelsharp@cc.usu.edu.
Couples Dance to the sounds of Minimax. Minimax came to Ogden from their hometwon of near Hof, Germany, to celebrate the cultural commitments of the sister cities Ogden and Hof. (Photo by Michael Sharp)
Salzburger Echo Members play alpen horns, the national instrument of Switzerland, at Winterfest. (Photo by Michael Sharp)
A large circle of People put on chicken hats for the “Chicken Dance,” one of the crowd´s favorites. (Photo by Michael Sharp)
Dressed in traditional German attire festival goers link arms while singing to one of the many folk songs played during the Hof Winterfest (Photo by Michael Sharp)