The Alpenfest is an annual celebration in Gaylord, Michigan. For over 40 years the Alpenfest has been a tradition for the townspeople and its visitors. It is held the third week of July.
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The history of the Alpenfest
In the 1960s Gaylord's image transitioned into an Alpine look. This was because there was a new particle board plant opening in Otsego County and Gaylord is located in the heart of it. They changed the town to an Alpine look, in respect to the Founder of the company. Fred Fahmi, who happened to be a Swiss businessman. The opening of the new plant meant a lot of new jobs, which was a big deal and something worth celebrating. In 1964 a committee was formed to set up an event to honor the opening of the new plant as well as the newly designed downtown Gaylord. The original event was called The Alpine Festival. It is now shortened to Alpenfest but is still celebrated as one of Gaylord's biggest events each summer.
Events
The 2012 Alpenfest will be held from July 17 – 21, 2012. Festivities will include arts and crafts on display and for sale, parades, concerts and stage shows, and tasty traditional foods. Kid's games, also amusement rides and family entertainment are always a reason for people to stop downtown and partake in some of the fun. The main event is the Burning of the Boogg. It is a symbolical ceremony where a wool statue is lit in flames to celebrate spring. Contests such as a yodeling contest, swiss stone spitting contest, franc flipping contest and a beauty pageant.
Burning of the Böögg history
In Zürich, Switzerland they create a snowman out of wood and fill the head with fireworks. In April they light the snowman on fire. People in Zurich say, "the faster the head explodes, the warmer or better summer will be." In Zurich, the burning of the Böögg is to be the transition from winter to spring. In Gaylord however, they inherited the tradition from Switzerland, but changed the meaning to better suit Gaylord. In Gaylord, their snowmen are made of cotton wool, and instead of it being the transition of seasons, people write their worries and problems down on a piece of paper and they place the paper inside the snowman. After that they light the snowman on fire and all worries and problems are supposed to disappear with the snowman.
Other attractions in Gaylord
Gaylord has many other attractions that should be interesting such as Elk Park. At Elk Park, visitors can watch the deer and elk in their natural habitat,and they could feed them.