Luxembourg Fest Week Re-Envisioned in the Face of COVID-19

BELGIUM, WISCONSIN, MAY 14, 2020. With the global pandemic dropping a gigantic question mark on the safety of this summer’s large-scale festivals and events, the board of the Luxembourg American Cultural Society has made the difficult decision to suspend all in-person events relating to the 34th annual Luxembourg Fest August 6-9- with some activities going virtual and others postponing.

The celebration typically boasts a week’s worth of Luxembourg-related events, culminating in a weekend-long festival in Belgium, Wisconsin. Luxembourg Fest traditionally takes place the second weekend of August.

Many of the weekend festival activities that were planned to take place in Belgium’s Community Park in 2020 will be rescheduled for the weekend of August 13-15, 2021, including the parade, live music, car show, Luxembourg Street Market, Kids Zone, Ansay International’s “Taste of Luxembourg”, World’s Largest Treipen Contest, Vern Arendt Photo ID station, Sunday Polka Mass, and other activities. Headlining act, Star Six Nine, has already been rebooked for 2021.

“We plan to take advantage of having additional time to plan our 2021 Luxembourg Fest to ensure we burst out of the gates with a Fest that is bigger and better than ever before,” says Operations Director Sara Jacoby.

Luxembourg Fest Week events that were originally slated to occur at Sheboygan’s Blue Harbor Conference Center & Resort will be individually rescheduled.

In lieu of the annual Green Heart Gala, which is the LACS’s only annual fundraising event, the Luxembourg American Cultural Society has teamed up with a popular Luxembourg band for “Live from Luxembourg: Featuring the Music of Luxembourg’s Zero Point Five”- a virtual benefit concert to premiere via www.lacs.lu and the LACS’s YouTube Channel on Luxembourg’s National Day- Tuesday, June 23rd at 8:00 pm CST.

The LACS is now accepting sponsors for this virtual concert, and will be offering National Day Party Kits to enhance the experience of celebrating National Day while listening to this concert from the comfort of your living room.

“During this isolating time, it is more important than ever to create a sense of community, and what better way to bring people together than through music,” says Patricia Lutz, Executive Director at the LACS.

“We also hope that this concert will serve as a preview for next year’s Luxembourg Fest, as we are keeping our fingers crossed for Zero Point Five to join us for our 2021 Fest.”

This year’s Cultural Conference, “Votes for Women- Celebrating 100+ Years of Universal Suffrage in Luxembourg and America,” will be held this year as a webinar August 6-7, 2020.

The annual LACS Membership Meeting will be rescheduled for a different time of year with details yet to be determined.

The LACS wishes to remind guests that room blocks at Blue Harbor are still being held and if any guests wish to cancel their room reservation, it is their responsibility to do so.

In light of this decision about Luxembourg Fest, the LACS has suspended all its large-group in-person events for summer, including the July 10th Luxembourg Beer & Wine Garden, which was to feature music by Ryan McIntyre. The first event on its revised schedule is a Luxembourg Beer & Wine Garden, tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 12th, with music by Tonic Roots.

In sticking with guidelines provided by the State of Wisconsin, the Luxembourg American Cultural Center, located at 100 Peter Thein Avenue in Belgium, WI is carefully planning its facility’s re-opening process, starting Monday, June 1st. Its Roots & Leaves Museum will be open to small groups by appointment Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays from 10 am until 4 pm with social distancing and sanitization processes in place. Its Dooley-Wager Research Center, which is the largest research library for Luxembourg genealogy and studies in North America, as well as a stellar resource to Ozaukee County families of any heritage, will remain closed to the public, but will continue to offer research services for $20/hour.

The health and safety of guests at Luxembourg Fest, LACS events, and the Luxembourg American Cultural Center are of utmost importance to the staff and board of directors at the Luxembourg American Cultural Society, who will continue to closely monitor the situation with COVID-19. Updates will continue to be posted online at www.lacs.lu and the LACS’ social media.

Please contact Tara Williams with any press requests.

The Luxembourg American Cultural Society’s mission is to preserve the roots of our heritage and nurture the leaves of ongoing relationships between Luxembourg and America.