Gaufest 2025 - What a wild ride

This past weekend 2 of our dance clubs, Bayern Verein Alpengrün and Schuhplattler Verein Heidengold participated in a bi-annual dance event in Newark Deleware called Gaufest. Our gracious hosts were the Enzian Volkstanzgruppe of Newark Deleware and the United German Hungarians of Philadelphia held on the grounds of the Deleware Saengerbund.

It started with a laid back welcome on Thursday afternoon/evening, and we were treated to some fine performances by other dance groups in attendance. Friday morning it was down to business with the start of the individual competition or Einzelpreisplatteln (gotta love those Germans for just making bigger words out of smaller ones!). There were also workshops and a Schafkopf tournament during the day. Friday evening our dance groups strutted their stuff performing the Almtanz with several members performing at their first Gaufest! Saturday, it was time for the Gruppenpreiseplatteln (group competition) and the very impressive parade of flags followed by a formal banquet and more performances. Finally, we wrapped it all up Sunday night with a huge party, German style of course.

It was an absolutely wonderful event, and we had a great time. A HUGE thank you to our hosts, all the clubs that attended, all the staff that made it possible and our AWESOME shuttle bus drivers. Holy cow, were they rockstars the whole event from first thing in the morning until last call. They even braved a very messy, ugly traffic jam from a fireworks show on July 4th near 2 of the hotels. We can't wait to see everyone in Lancaster, PA in 2027!!