Leavenworth’s Winter Karneval begins

LEAVENWORTH – With the holiday season coming to a close, Leavenworth will continue its celebrations with Winter Karneval throughout the month of January.

The festivities honor a German celebration that dates back to the thirteenth century, and is commonly referred to as ‘Fasching’ in Bavaria.

The Front Street Park Gazebo will host fire dancers over the weekend of Jan. 11 and 12, with performances at 5 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.

Artisan carvers will be staged throughout town to create sculptures in real time during the live ice carvings event taking place during Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Jan. 18 and 19. The weekend will close with the annual fireworks show over downtown on Sunday evening.

Additionally, Sample Seattle, which organizes evenings featuring Seattle entertainers, will host its first event in Leavenworth from Jan. 17 to 19. The variety show will have three evenings of different music formats and will be hosted by the magician “the American Mystifier.” Friday evening will have country and Southern rock and blues, followed by old school soul and 70’s and 80’s funk on Saturday evening. The weekend will close Sunday evening with Latin jazz, then Be Bop to fusion jazz. 

The festivities will culminate with a Fasching Pub Crawl from Friday to Sunday, beginning on Jan. 24. Fasching is a German tradition that is akin to Mardi Gras. The pub crawl will have carnival masks, giveaways, and specialty eats and drinks at participating locations.