Event set Saturday, marks 140 years of

August Schell Brewery

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- August Schell Brewing Company will mark its 140th anniversary with a "Schellabration" on Saturday.

The event includes a wide variety of music, exhibits, beer tasting, German foods, and other events.

The celebration begins at noon and will continue until 6 p.m. at "the most picturesque brewery in America," according to Michael Jackson (the Beer Guy).

The "Schellabration" is the brewery's biggest anniversary event since it observed its 125th year in 1985, according to Schell's President and Brewmaster Ted Marti.

Music will be provided throughout the afternoon by Schell's Hobo Band, the Concord Singers, "Smiley" Wiltscheck and his concertina, a German Bavarian band from St. Paul and a Twin Cities bagpipe band.

Exhibits will include beer kegs from throughout the decades, a wooden keg-making machine, a Schell's packaging exhibit, hop and malt exhibits and the Schell's history.

The brewery will be open for tours. A Schell's May Pole will be dedicated.

Berg's Battery of New Ulm will fire its cannon at 1 p.m.

Beer tasting will include all the 38 contract beers Schell's has produced.

Participants will be given tokens, allowing them to sample some of the beer varieties.

"It's a pretty wide variety of beers," said Marti. "We will also display some of our artifacts not in our museum and people will talk about them."

Schell's employees will conduct tours.

Beer industry members will also be on hand to answer questions.

German food fare will be similar to Schell's Bockfest including brats, sauerkraut and potato salad.

Several thousand people are expected for the event. Participants are asked to park in South Park and ride shuttle buses and a horse-drawn shuttle into the brewery.

"It'll be a fun day, nice and relaxed," said Marti. "People can hardly go wrong. Some people just enjoy listening to music all afternoon."

Marti said the sound from the cannon firing of Berg's Battery will echo throughout the Minnesota and Cottonwood river valleys.

"They really like to load up the cannon good out here," said Marti.

Tickets are $2. Food and beverages are additional.