Gray skies were no competition for the smell of frying meat, as an estimated crowd of 24,000 filled blocked-off sections of Hamburg Sept. 2.
Hungry guests were ready for the vendors packing block after block of the small town for the Taste of Hamburg-er Festival, now in its 14th year.
Children danced to live polka music. Artisans displayed painting, jewelry and more while vendors hawked smoothies with trendy ingredients, and dogs tugged on leashes to get a closer sniff. Patrons browsed displays of hot sauces or condiment caddies shaped like miniature picnic tables.
And the burgers! Dozens of stands – represented by brick-and-morter businesses, community organizations like churches and scout troops, and mobile food trucks – offered tempting creations for those with an appetite. Classics like bacon cheeseburgers were available, but the adventurous tried toppings like seafood, bacon-tomato jam or kimchee or themed burgers like the shepherd’s pie version.
Guests vote each year on the People’s Choice award, and many licked grease off fingers before filling out paper ballots. For 2017, the coveted award went to Deitsch Eck Restaurant, Lenhartsville. Second went to Uncle Paul’s Stuffed Pretzels, Hamburg, third to Salem Church, Lenhartsville, and fourth to Backwoods Brothers Authentic Texas Cuisine, Hamburg.
Deitsch Eck is often the talk of the festival, especially their “Luther,” a bacon cheeseburger served on a glazed-doughnut “roll.” To prepare for the festival, the restaurant stocks 2,300 burgers plus 105 pounds of cheese, 100 pounds of bacon, 800 rolls and 1,500 doughnuts. The pastries are fresh made by Dutch-Maid Bakery of Temple, and the quarter-pound patties are from Deitrich’s Meats, Krumsville.
Lines at the Deitsch Eck stand are long, but move quickly. Kayla LaPearl, Hamburg, tried the Luther.
“It’s delicious,” she said after her first bite. “The sweet and the salty complement each other.”
Judges award prizes in additional categories. Restaurant winners were Bull and Bear for best overall, plus taste and originality and Kooper’s Chowhound for best appearance. In the organization category, Christ Evangelical Free Church won best overall plus best taste. Christ Church tied with Salem Church for originality; Salem also won best appearance.
The third category was mobile/food trailer, and winners were Uncle Paul’s Stuffed Pretzels for best overall plus taste and originality and Blazing Swine for best appearance. Video Burgers won the “Newbie” burger award.
Patrons entered a variety of contests, ranging from races to eating to art.
Professional Hamburger Eating Contest 1st place winner Bob “Notorious B.O.B.” Shoudt ate 13 1/2 burgers. Amateur Hamburger Eating Contest 1st place team Banana Split members were Andrew Maoury, Brett Cooper, and Troye Cooper.
Contestants in the Taste of Hamburg-er Fest Mooing Contest laughed their way through the friendly competition, which is broadcast and sponsored by radio station WEEU. This year’s winners were Shawn Peppiatt, first place; Henry Seidel, second; and Mike Berger, third.
Blue Mountain Wildlife sponsors the popular “Dine and Dash” at the beginning of the festival. Runners gather at the west end of town to down a burger, run a mile along the Schuylkill River, eat a second burger, and run back. Burgers are donated by local restaurants Russo’s Pizza and Westy’s Bar and Grill.
Gregg Adams, director and secretary of the Blue Mountain board, and Amy Browder, volunteer coordinator for races, said they saw 34 runners in this year’s race, which has been a part of the festival since 2012.
“We have people come back every year,” Browder said, including those wearing bright costumes or runners with dogs on a leash.
“We had 38 run last year,” Adams said, “and we thought the weather might hurt us this year, but it didn’t really.”
Dine and Dash winners included Andrew Zeamer winning first overall man, Veronica Shrack winning first overall woman, Lizzie Batman Schwinger winning fastest female under 15, John Greeley (male 16-39), Erika Wood (female 16-39), Jeffrey Hammer (male 40 and up) and Jennifer Simpson (female 40 and up). Tania Wargo won best costume, Ryan Witman won best dog and the Judges’ Choice went to oldest race finisher Ben Delp.
Besides burgers, guests to Hamburg-er Fest ate gourmet fries or pickles-on-a-stick. Sweet temptations included pumpkin funnel cakes, Hawaiian shaved ice and hand-dipped ice cream. Volunteers scooped Way-Har Farm ice cream from Bernville. Proceeds from this stand benefited the Hamburg Public Library.
“I think, considering the weather and the temperature, we’ve had a respectful number of customers so far,” Sue Leiby,a first-time volunteer, said midway through the day. “We had a through-hiker who came down the trail from Maine stop by earlier.”
Belinda Kemper volunteered with the Pig Placement Network stand. She brought with her Ricky and PigPig, animals she adopted through the organization she joined 17 years ago. Their display also included colorful framed artwork, which are created by the pigs.
Children enjoyed petting the friendly pigs; they also filled the grassy area outside the Hamburg Post Office to participate in a cow-decorating contest. For $5, children purchased a wooden cow and decorated it with their choice of paint, sparkles and other supplies on hand. Volunteers staffing this contest included Alexi Madara, Petra Martin and Paiton Albrecht.
Madara and Albrecht are both high schoolers and can use Hamburg-er Fest hours toward their required community service requirement. However, both agreed that the work was enjoyable.
“I love hanging out with the kids,” Albrecht said as she watched over the youngsters, “and I love helping with the community. It’s a great community we have here.”
“It’s fun and a really nice atmosphere,” Madara added.
Martin is a member of the Hamburg Area Arts Association, which sponsors the cow-decorating contest.
“I think it’s fabulous,” she said. “The kids are doing a fabulous job. It makes me want to paint a cow!”
This year’s first-place winners included Michael Bray (2-4 category), Genaro Garipoli (ages 5-7), Justin Riegel (ages 8-10), Hailey Koller (ages 11 and up) and Nathan Price (family category).
At the Hamburg Strand on Fourth Street, people were invited to “Smooch a Pooch” for a dollar to benefit the single-screen historic theater. Several dogs worked the event, including a sweet-tempered golden retriever, Buddy, owned by Lindsay Adam and Chris Rabold.
Stephanie Adam, Strand Theater coordinator, was thrilled with the new “kissing booth” at the stand, which was built by Hamburg Area High School students and featured a sign created by local printshop Bestonium.
“It’s really good,” she said of the display, “and it’s made a difference. We’ve done this for three years, and we’re seeing more people, getting more attention, this year.”
Hamburg streets were also filled with local artisans. Keena Shaffer, a Hamburg resident, was a first time participant. Her stand, Keena Alyce designs, featured beautifully-lettered statements and sayings on rustic wooden shapes.
Artists and married couple Jay and Martha Ressler, also of Hamburg, have been at the festival for four years. They share a booth, with Jay’s photographs displayed on one side and Martha’s art quilts on the other.
“There’s always interest in our artwork,” Martha said, then laughed, “but a lot more interest in the burgers. It’s always a fun show.”
Chrissy Mayer, visiting the festival from Wellsboro, was a first-time visitor to Hamburg-er Fest, which her family decided to attend with in-laws who live in the Hamburg area.
“I want to try the Oscar,” she said, noting that burgers were next on their list. “It has lobster and asparagus.”
The Taste of Hamburg-er Festival is organized by Our Town Foundation, 335 State Street, Hamburg, and OTF’s small but dedicated staff requires the help of an army of volunteers to pull off the event.
Work began in earnest on Friday, when the streets of downtown Hamburg were filled with teens wearing orange tees. The young people were members of the Hamburg Area High School Wilderness Club, led by teachers Benjamin Hetrich and Justin Brown. This is the third year the club has been involved, and this year 45 members prepped the streets for the festival the day before and worked as gophers during the event, key in helping things run smoothly.
“We believe that school organizations should be responsible for giving back to the community in any way possible,” Brown said. “It helps our kids build a connection to the community… We felt it was important for them to realize all the time and effort volunteers put in to make these events possible.”
Deena Kershner, executive director of Our Town Foundation, felt that the event went well, considering the forecast. Cloudy skies and the threat of rain kept some people way, but streets were still busy at this year’s Hamburger Fest, especially in the early hours.
“We were lucky that it didn’t pour in the morning. It was 3 o’clock before we saw the downpour,” Kershner said. “Overall I was satisfied with the crowds, but it was only about 60 percent compared to last year.”
In 2016, the weather conditions were sunny and crowd estimates reached 40,000. Kershner said that in the 14 years for the festival, this is the second time rain interfered with crowds. Still, she laughed remembering when steady rain did finally descend on Saturday.
“I thought it was really neat that so many people brought umbrellas,” Kershner said, and “even once it started raining people stuck around in the entertainment areas.”
The remaining crowds barely paused, simply hoisting umbrellas or pulling up hoods before continuing their quest for the perfect burger.
