NEW ULM – New Ulm’s historic landmark is being commemorated with German heritage and all-around fun September 9 as HermannFest returns for the its ninth year.

With the tagline “Germans have more fun”, HermannFest seeks to have another successful year of music, fireworks, beer, and celebration of the German culture. The event begins at 11:30 a.m. with a performance by the Wendinger Band at Hermann Heights. This is followed by Leon Olson at 1:30 p.m. and the Concord Singers at 3:30. Overlapping with this performance is the Bockfest Boys starting at 3 in Harman Park. The New Ulm Municipal Band and Battery will be “Thunder in the Valley” starting at 6 and Jonah and the Whales will cap off the musical entertainment from 7:45 to 10:45. Executive Director of the Hermann Monument Society Denise Fischer gave more detail on what HermannFest will have to offer.

“We have free admission,” she said. “There’ll be the German music, German food, and beverages. We’ll have the German potato salad, sauerkraut, broads, hamburgers, hot dogs, all those things available. With [Thunder in the Valley], it usually takes 11 cannons to shoot the 18th Overture, and it is one of the highlights of the event.”

The biggest change to the event this year is having the dual performances at Hermann Heights and Harman Park. Fischer said this change will provide an exciting opportunity to extend the musical offerings of the festival.

“Each year, we keep getting more and more music, more bands,” she said. “[Previously] the music [in Harman Park] didn’t start till six o’clock with Thunder in the Valley. We’ve had a few bands with an earlier start, but this is probably our biggest commitment to the three o’clock start [at Harman Park].”

Having music in both areas means stretching the festival across both the grounds and increasing the potential number of people across the festival. Fischer said the Hermann Monument Society has been working diligently with open communication to ensure the event continues to be safe.

“That’s where we work with the city, Park and Rec department, fire department,” she said. “The police department and everybody in town helps us, like closing Center Street during the fireworks. There are a lot of things involved to coordinate safety and making sure people are not in Hermann Heights after five o’clock. It’s a change in the music as well. The earlier music at Hermann Heights is more of our old time, German music. [Harman Park] gets more modern, more upbeat music.”

Fireworks will be shot off starting at 8:30 over the Hermann Monument. Fischer said preserving this tradition of early night fireworks is helped by their late date.

“If it was earlier in the year, with sunset, you can’t shoot them off till 10 p.m.,” she said. “One of those features of our event is we can do fireworks earlier, because of the time being in the fall here. Children can stay up and watch the fireworks.”

Fischer hopes the festival is successful in continuing to honor, support, and promote the monument and its history. She enjoys it gives families the opportunity to come together and take in the German heritage and significance of Hermann the German.

For more information visit the Hermann Monument website at https://hermannmonument.com/.