Ort im Innkreis

26 to 29 June 2025

Gesamptspiel musicians at the Buffet Crampon Main Stage on Saturday

For the final hurrah on the 2025 Germany Trip, some of the folks from the Little German Band and Dancers went to the small Austrian town of Ort Im Innkreis to attend the Woodstock der Blasmusik festival. The WdB draws around 100,000 attendees annually. Anthony and Julie didn’t have any idea of what to expect.

But on the way, the group stopped in the German boarder town of Burghausen for lunch.

While waiting for lunch, Anthony walked across the bridge over the Salzach river to Austria.

Later, Cyril and the kids walked over too. For reference, the statue of Icarus marks the Austria / Germany boarder. Cyril and Adelaide are on the German side. Elliot and Cy are in Austria. Vivian is standing in both countries at once.

Full frontal Icarus.

In 2025 Burghausen celebrates it’s 1000 year anniversary. The Sagan children got in on the act.

Burghausen from the Austria side of the Salzach

Author’s Note: Yes, we know Ort im InnKreis is Austria. Julie and Anthony decided to put this entry in the Germany section to keep the LGB&D events together.

The band stayed in a lovely gasthaus, Gastof Berger in St Peter am Hart. They really went out of their way to make us feel welcomed. If you find yourself going to the festival, consider staying here.

Kata was our host in Ort Im Innkreis. Her house is walking distance from the Fest, and she let us hang out before, after and during when we needed a break. She got us permission to park our vans at the local church parking lot. She also shared her yummy schnapps with Paul and Anthony before they headed to the Fest on Friday.

One of the LGB members came to Germany with a bug. The bug spread to several members, including Julie. For her, it blossomed into a lovely sinus infection. On Friday Anthony went to the fest, Julie went to a local doctor. She gots lots of meds and started feeling better in a day.

The Woodstock der Blasmusik is a huge traditional European folk music festival (a gross simplification, I know). There are two large outdoor stages, and 5 large indoor stages. Anthony started out in the indoor stages, really large barns. By 11AM they were packed, with lots of young(er) people. Some of them were playing the type of music the LGB&D play, often the same songs. The crowd sang along to all of the folk songs, even conducting the dynamics. Anthony was incredibly impressed with the musical culture.

Anthony thought this would be a terrific festival for the Little German Band and Dancers to play someday. At our best, we could hang with some of the bands he saw earlier in the day. However, the musicianship was exceptional AND the bands have rock star followings here. The LGB&D would really have to up it’s musical and social media game to make the cut.

Anthony caught up with a bunch of the LGB&D crowd in time for the shows at the Buffet Crampon Main stage. Again, the musicianship here was amazing.

Some heavy metal at the Buffet Crampon tent. These are beautiful 14K Euro tubas. Actually one of them had been banged up at the fest and was on sale for 10K, according to the Buffet Crampon Sales guy we talked to. Anthony’s clarinet happens to be a Buffet Crampon, and he salivated over the fancy clarinets on display.

Blasmusik band with a harp and upright bass.

The LGB&D contingent preparing for the Gesamptspiel on Saturday.

The Gesamptspiel is a mass music event where 20,000+ musicians come together in front of the main stage to play the same 6 songs (hopefully at the same time).

Anthony initially didn’t want to risk taking his clarinet into the fray, because, they don’t let you bring in cases. His LGB&D friends convinced him he would be very bummed if he missed this. They were right.

Our buddy from Buffet Crampon was one of the Luminaries giving a speech on the stage. If you look closely you can see he is wearing a LGB&D button on his vest.

More Clarinet power

While Anthony was playing, Julie took the Sagan girls for icecream and a ride on the ferris wheel. They got some good shots of the mob.

Anthony is about 12 rows back from the stage, in the center. Can you spot him?

That afternoon we took a break from the WdB festivities, and relaxed under the trees in Kata’s back yard.

Sunday. Philip dropped us off at the Hart im InnKreis train station to catch the train to take us toward Vienna. We got caught in a tractor jam (people taking their tractors to church) so we missed the morning train. The Hart station provided little in the way of amenities, but we spent the day in a small room working on the blog entries.

26 to 29 June 2025

Munich