The brewery’s annual festival has consistently drawn large crowds to New Ulm, with some guests traveling from out of state. Many out of town guests arrived Friday before the celebration, renting hotel rooms or Airbnbs in New Ulm. In some cases, rooms were reserved a year in advance.

By early Saturday morning, New Ulm was abuzz with activity as hundreds of guests made their way to Schell’s Brewery. Dozens of tour buses dropped off visitors, some from out of state, in the former Target parking lot. From there, they walked to Schell’s Road to wait in line at the brewery’s front gate.

Following the burning of the goat, the brewery closed and attendees searched for after party celebrations, many heading downtown to the local bars. Schell’s staff estimated roughly 4,000 people attended this year’s Bockfest.

By 10 a.m. the temperature outside was 42 degrees and rising. By afternoon, the temperature reached the mid 60s with partly sunny skies, making this one of the warmest Bockfest celebrations on record.

Michael Bee of Rochester once again proved his talent for finding the Bockfest medallions. He found two of the wooden bock heads hidden in Schell’s woods before noon. Bee comes to Bockfest each year with a mission to find the medallions and he typically finds at least two. Asked his secret he said, “try to be one of the first people through the gate and try to think of where you would hide the medallions. I must think like the person who hides them.”

Participants included groups of people from Minot and Rugby, N.D. and Sioux Falls, S.D.

“We came here for a little bit of winter relief,” said Tony Bernhardt, CEO/GM of Enerbase Cooperative Resources of Minot.

“We heard about Bockfest, Bavarian Blast and Oktoberfest in New Ulm from a good friend who is a Grain Belt beer distributor,” he added.

Rick Bruggeman of Rugby, N.D. sounded impressed with the Bockfest Boys band of New Ulm that performed on the big parking lot stage for several hours Saturday morning and early afternoon.

“This band is phenomenal. They’re really putting on a show. They don’t quit. I love coming back to Minnesota,” said Bruggeman, a 1977 Mahnomen High School graduate.

Joey Steinbach and Brian Filzen volunteered as “St. Bernards” during the Bockfest celebration. The two men carried kegs into the woods to provide refills of Schell’s beer to individuals seeking the hidden medallions in the woods. The two have volunteered as “St. Bernards” for years.

Bockfest always attracts colorful characters. A group of four from Lincoln, Nebraska came to Schell’s wearing powder white wigs. Ryan Ebke, one of the bewigged visitors, said the group costume was a pun. For Bockfest they dressed as another Bach. In this case, German composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

A group of eight people from Sioux Falls wore capes with messages on the back of them. The messages included “I got your bock” “What the Schell?” “I Schell have another bock” and “I Schell get Bocked up and bock till you drop.”

Scott Willson said the group is spending the weekend at Bingham Hall. He said he found New Ulm to be a unique place.

“Everybody is so proud of the heritage here. It’s such a source of community pride, which is just wonderful,” said Willson.

Katie Wilcox of Mantorville and a close friend, Myra Roe of Rochester, hugged each other as they walked towards the Bockfest gate.

White Iron Band from Ely, MN takes the main stage at Bockfest Saturday afternoon. By early afternoon close to 4,000 people visited Schell’s Brewery for Bocfest.

“I’ve been coming here since I was 21. I just love the music and people here,” Wilcox said.

While most people were walking towards the brewery Saturday afternoon, Jake Meyer of New Ulm was walking away from it, wearing a helmet with antlers and pheasant feathers.

“I’ve been coming here to help set up for 21 years,” said Meyer.

“Sometimes, it’s been super cold. Lately it hasn’t been. We put several hundred beer kegs on trailers for about four hours, beginning at 7:30 a.m.,” he added.

Further down the road to Schell’s, New Ulm native Sierra Schaefer and Jonah Esslinger of Minneapolis were selling leather wraps and tassels with bells for beer steins, plus wooden stein stickers and iron-on patches.

Lori and Jesse Jewell enjoy their first Bockfest since officially moving back to New Elm.

“We’ll see how it goes. This is our first year selling here,” she added.

Schaefer said she planned to wear a white bunny mask later at Bockfest.

“We come down just about every year for Bockfest,” Esslinger said.

Several people attending Bockfest were newcomers, even if they lived in the area previously. Lori Jewell, graduated from New Ulm High School in 1989, but moved away before attending the festival. Just last week she and her husband Jesse moved back to New Ulm from Colorado and Bockfest the first festival they could attend.

“I think it is awesome,” Lori Jewell said. “I love how everyone is embracing the season no matter the weather.”

Bockfest Boys band members from left, Scott Sparlin and Tony Berg perform on the big parking lot.

Many of the guests embraced the tradition of Bockfest by hunting for the hidden goat head “bocks” medallions in the woods below Schell’s. Hundreds searched the woods, only a few of the medallions were found. Michael Bee of Rochester once again proved his talent for finding the Bockfest medallions. He found two of the wooden bock heads hidden in Schell’s woods before noon.

Bee comes to Bockfest each year with a mission to find the medallions and he typically finds at least two. Asked his secret he said, “try to be one of the first people through the gate and try to think of where you would hide the medallions. I must think like the person who hides them.”

As with last year, the 2024 Bockfest concluded with the ceremonial goat sacrifice. At 4:30 p.m. just before the close of Bockfest, Schell’s Vice-President Kyle Marti, set a wooden goat statue ablaze. Hundreds of spectators watched and cheered as the wooden goat burned on a pyre.

This is the second time Schell’s has closed out Bockfest with the burning of a goat effigy. Last year’s goat was made of straw. This year’s goat was assemble from the staves of old oak cave-aged beer barrels. The goat was constructed by Schell’s Visitor Center General Manager Curt Van Asten. He said it took about three weeks to construct and about three minutes to destroy.

“It was kind of sad to watch it burn,” Van Asten said, “but also kind of cool.”

Thousands of Bockfest participants Saturday at Schell's Brewery included a group of eight from Minot and Rugby, N.D. They held hands and danced to the sounds of the Bockfest Boys near the big parking lot stage. Staff photo by Fritz Busch