Festival Review: Roger Bright Memorial PolkaFest in New Glarus, Wisconsin

New Glarus, often called America's "Little Switzerland", is a picturesque Swiss-style town that was first settled by 108 Swiss pioneers back in 1845. These pioneers came from the Canton of Glarus, and the region in which they settled reminded them of their homeland so much that they dubbed it "New Glarus".

Aside from the many unique shops and restaurants that are built in the Swiss-style, New Glarus is also a great place to visit because of its local brewery, the New Glarus Brewing Company. Furthermore, the town boasts of many yearly festivals, such as this year's 7^th annual Roger Bright Memorial PolkaFest.

For those of you who may not be up on their Polka history, Roger Bright was a local musician and Polka Music Hall of Fame member (I'll bet you didn't know that there is a Polka Hall of Fame either), who made a lifelong effort to keep this type of music alive and well in New Glarus. In honor of him, New Glarus holds an annual PolkaFest, usually in the second weekend of June.

This year's festival included musical groups such as the David Austin Band, the Keith Gennerman Band, Dy Versaco, Brian and the Mississippi Valley Dutchmen, the Bob Klinger Band, and the Zweifel Brothers. The bands performed in a big blue and white striped tent from Friday until Sunday (June 12-14th) in downtown New Glarus. On Saturday and Sunday evenings, several of these bands also performed in the nearby New Glarus Hotel (a historic restaurant originally built in 1853) or at Puempel's Olde Tavern.

Of course, what would a PolkFest be without some good beer? To that effect, the local New Glarus Brewing Company featured a beer dispensing station which offered four types of beers: Spotted Cow (a farmhouse ale made with barley and malt), Fat Squirrel (a barley malt brewed with six different Wisconsin malts), Totally Naked (a lighter beer made with two-row barley malt), and Running Man Wheat (a Bavarian-style wheat beer).

To help wash that beer down, the PolkaFest also offered New Glarus-made brats and burgers at a local concession stand- or rather, wagon. The nearby Maple Leaf Cheese and Chocolate Haus offered many flavors of ice cream in its homemade waffle cones, as well as homemade fudge and imported chocolates and candies. Finally, as if those sweets were not enough, there was a small bake sale going on underneath the tent canopy. I purchased some brownies, and found them to be excellent (they contained delectable cherry bits inside the dough).

I also tried the Totally Naked brew from New Glarus Brewing Company. This beer was perfect refreshment for a hot and almost summer day. I paid $5 for the brew, which included a nice keeper glass (versus $3 for just a plastic cup of beer).

For some more information on the annual New Glarus PolkaFest, click here.