Kirkcaldy residents will toast cross-continental friendship this week as the town’s Bavarian Beer and Music Festival returns.
Thousands of visitors are expected to descend on the Town Square from Thursday for four days of celebrations to mark the historic friendship between Kirkcaldy and its German twin town of Ingolstadt.
Organised by the Kirkcaldy-Ingolstadt Association, the biennial event is a firm favourite on the town calendar, with the signature marquee having already been erected for this week’s Festival of Township.
Robert Main, chair of the association, said that ties between the two communities were strengthened by events like the Beer and Music Festival.
“The relationship between Kirkcaldy and Ingolstadt is more than 50 years old,” he said.
“I think it helps to promote a sort of feel good factor and events like this make people happy and let people sample some Bavarian culture.
“We’ve had success in that we’ve had significant numbers of people travelling to Ingolstadt.
“The Neeburs o’ Geordie Munro wanted to do something to celebrate its 25th anniversary and they travelled to Germany to watch FC Ingolstadt play, and last January we had a group come over to Kirkcaldy.”
Held every two years, organisers have gone the extra mile to ensure that everything about the four days of festivities is as close to a traditional Bavarian event as possible.
Long wooden benches will run through the marquee, while authentic German beer has been specially imported for the occasion.
A 17-piece band is also making the journey from Germany to the Lang Toun to perform for the crowds, while no celebration of Bavarian culture would be complete without a serving of Bratwurst, which like the beer, will be in plentiful supply.
Mr Main added: “The beer has been despatched and is on its way.
“We just hope that everybody has fun and we’ll continue to try and do the best we can to put on a good festival.”
