A World Filled With German Sausage!

The tiny community of Walburg, Texas is quite German.   As a part of that rich culture, each year Zion Lutheran Church and School holds a Wurstbraten celebration.   And every year, the crowds come, the roads filling up with cars and trucks well before time for things to begin, everyone interested in enjoying the homeade sausage made and smoked right there on the premises.   This was the 42nd year for the feast.   12,500 pounds of sausage were smoked behind the church in their huge smoking pits, continually stoked with plenty of hot coals.    The pit master again this year was longtime church member Frank Herzog, pictured in the opening photo.   When not manning sausage creation, he’s the church’s offficial bell ringer for Sunday services.   While patrons could get their plates to go, many preferred to stand in line and enjoy visiting inside the school’s huge gymnasium, long tables filling the floor.   Church members dressed in straw hats and bright red and white vests acted as traffic cops, letting diners know when a spot opened up.   While most everyone loved the sausage, 2-year-old Tenley Springfield was initially a bigger fan of her bread slice, but her mom, Mary Helen Springfield, finally coaxed Tenley into a few nibbles.    4-year-old Sophia Ziegler, however, dug right into the meat, with dad Ken Ziegler right there to help.   This year’s fundraiser sold close to 4,300 plates, quite a success considering that it was a rainy Monday night.