'I love the food:' Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival delights everyone during its 56th year
Sausages sizzled atop griddles and grills Thursday morning, an aromatic beckoning to those of German ancestry.
Some of the delicacies were served in buns, others on rye bread and a few stuffed into pitas, but all were welcome during the first day of the 2023 Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival.
The event's 56th year officially kicked off 11 a.m. Thursday when Doug Foght ran the ceremonial first bratwurst of the year down Sandusky Avenue to the Wyandotte Mutual Insurance Stage on West Rensselaer Street.
Foght handed the prized sausage sandwich to Hannah Feldman, the 2022 Bratwurst Festival Queen, to ensure the meal would pass her royal test. She smiled in delight, opening the festival to the public.
'It's a lot of fun and I love the food'
The event has been held downtown Bucyrus the third weekend of August — it always runs Thursday to Saturday — since 1967.
There was a smaller festival before, though, and Jeff Reser, mayor of Bucyrus, can recall it like yesterday.
"I remember that on the square they had a reenactment of Colonel Crawford being burned at the stake," Reser said. "For a teenager, it was a little crazy."
The historical legacy of the county's namesake is remembered each summer during Living History Days, allowing the city's premiere festival the chance to expand beyond one man to embrace the German heritage of the area's earliest European settlers.
"I have been to just about to every Bratwurst Festival," Reser said.
Nine years ago, the experience took on a new meaning for him when he was introduced on the festival's main stage as the city's mayor.
The lifelong Bucyrus resident walked onto the same stage Thursday for the last time as an elected official. Reser's final term is complete at the end of the year.
"I'm going to miss it, but I'm not going anywhere," Reser said. "I will be around."
If the last six decades have taught the mayor anything, it's that Bucyrus is the only place in the world to be the third weekend of August.
"It's such a great festival," Reser said. "It's a lot of fun and I love the food. There's not anything that's served here that I would not eat."
'Our biggest fundraiser of the year'
Blooming onions, bourbon chicken and Belgian waffles are just a few of the menu items available at the Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival.
Everyone's favorite, of course, is encased sausages. That's why there were 120 of them on one grill alone Thursday morning outside the Bucyrus Boosters wagon.
"This is our biggest fundraiser of the year," said Kim Kent, president of the boosters.
She's been part of the club for a decade. Bucyrus is her alma mater. The festival has been part of her life since she was born.
A little more than a year ago, the Bucyrus Boosters expanded to assistant not only band, but also the choir and drama club.
"A lot of those kids are crossovers," Kent explained. "We're trying to get the word out that we're the Bucyrus Music Boosters."
Like many of the civic organizations that have booths at the festival, the boosters rely on the public's help. Money raised from selling bratwursts will allow them to purchase new sheet music, fund trips to band camp and pay for equipment upkeep.
"We buy a lot of things," Kent said. "It all helps the kids."
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival delights everyone during its 56th year
