Das Festival ready for three-day run on Main Plaza

Das Festival ready for three- day run on Main Plaza

Das Festival of Kendall brings a three-day festival back to downtown Boerne over Father’s Day weekend, reminiscent of the celebratory atmosphere of its predecessor, Berges Fest.

A two-day party last year on its initial run, Das Festival expands to June 13-15 this year, with major recording acts hitting the stage each night ... and yes, there will be stein-holding and Dachshund races.

Patsy Torres takes the stage June 13, a night of music, beer and post-work camaraderie on the plaza. The Lost Mule Band and the Toman Brothers are on stage at 5 and 7 p.m. before Torres.

Things really begin to heat up June 14, with the 10 a.m. parade stretching from the Boerne Fire Station on North Main Street, to Hosack Street, two blocks south of River Road.

Parade coordinator Michael Ethridge is hoping for nearly 100 parade entries, with wrestler and Boerne resident Bill Goldberg sitting in as parade grand marshal. Entries will be taken right up to early Saturday morning, at: dasfestival.org.

Saturday includes the launch of activities — blindfolded wheelbarrow races, watermelon- eating contest, the egg toss, sack races, Steinholding competition and several heats of Dachshund races.

On stage Saturday will be Lacy Brinson and Kristen Foreman at 2:30 p.m., Matt Kirk and Sylvia Kirk at 4 p.m., the Joe Panther Band at 6 p.m. and headliner Two Tons of Steel at 8 p.m.

The steinholding competition is an official event this year — the male and female winners with the best times from Saturday and Sunday’s heats will advance to the Texas State Steinholding Championship in November at Wurstfest in New Braunfels.

The party continues on Sunday, with Round Two of games, contests and steinholding. Musical act Ruben V is the day’s headliner, taking the stage at 7:30 p.m. after Lori Brooke Yodeling at 2:45 p.m. and Sonic Radio at 5 p.m.

This year’s Das Festival of Kendall steinholding winner will qualify for the state steinholding championship in November.

Star file photo Dave Parent, Das Festival president, said he was “the last holdout” from the Berges Fest committee after it dissolved in 2021.

“I was on the last iteration of the Burges Fest board,” Parent said. “I started seeing on social media, everybody was asking, ‘What happened to Burges Fest? What happened to Burges Fest?’” His first phone call, he said, was to Veronica Brown, owner of Salvador Dobbs and a Boerne native who recalls attending so many of the Burges Fests over the years.

Brown, now Das Festival vice president, said the committee’s goal has always been a three-day weekend, and on the Main Plaza.

“We’re bringing back a tradition, and that’s what we’re creating,” Brown said. “That was our goal, a three-day weekend in the center of Boerne, where businesses, families and visitors can unite.”

Last year’s inaugural Das Festival was thrown together in about six weeks, Parent said, as the committee waited for receipt of its 501(c)(3) paperwork that granted nonprofit status to Das Festival.

“That was our no. 1 goal,” Brown said. “We were six weeks’ out last year, and you can’t reserve anything in Boerne, much less a parade, with just six weeks.”

The committee took the party to Random Bar, which offered space, a bar, an open field, parking, and alcohol consumption. But the plan was always to get back to Main Plaza.

Das Festival’s entire existence is charitable giving. The committee picks four charities in the area to receive portions of all the proceeds earned over the weekend.

This year, those four charities are: Heartland Children’s Home, Comfort Table and Food Pantry, Boerne Blaze and the Bruno Phillip Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 688.

Answers to your questions about parade entry, event times, vendors and more can be found at www. dasfestival.org.