Organizers of the German-American Festival say this year's was bigger and better than every before!
The festival reached new heights, breaking attendance records with nearly 40,000 people enjoying the weekend festival, as well as going through more than 1,000 kegs and virtually selling out of all of the beer and food on site.
The attendance record is a 15% increase from last year and a 45% increase over the past five years.
“The GAF is the oldest and largest ethnic festival in the Toledo-area and would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of our volunteers,” said Andrew Beavis, Festival Marketing Chair. “A heartfelt thank you to all who helped continue this great tradition and put in the extra effort to make it bigger and better than ever!"
One of the huge draws to the German-American Festival is all the delicious food.
Here's a look at how much food was consumed at this year's record-breaking festival:
- 1,000 kegs of beer
- 900 pounds of roasted almonds
- 4,000 pounds of red potatoes (used for potato salad and postago pancakes)
- 3,300 pounds of French fries
- 2,400 schnitzel sandwiches
- 1,775 funnel cakes
- 1,400 pounds of sauerkraut balls
Festival officials say the vodka supplied by Toledo Spirits was also consumed way above expected amounts.
$40,000 in donations from the festival will be given to close to 40 area charities, including Knights of Columbus and Cedar Creek Church.
Kathy Christner was also the winner of the most coveted raffle featuring a two-year lease on a 2019 X2 BMW 2.8i.
Head over to the German-American Festival website to see other raffle winners and the results of the Steinstossen, Hummel and Masskrugstemmen contests from both Saturday and Sunday.
