It seems like a miracle, but “picnic” has always been favored by the weather. Though there had been a longtime period of rain and rather cool days in Burgenland at that time, sun came out right at the beginning of the “picnic” and raised the good mood in the audience. After the show it rained again.

“Picnic” means to meet relatives and friends from wherever Burgenländers are living. They usually plan to come to Austria in the early July so that they can participate. This, of course, is the main reason for organizing this event. And it´s the people from the United States and Canada, from Germany and Switzerland who make one big difference to all those sorts of “picnics” or “Zeltfeste” as they are held in Burgenland. I am absolutely sure that there is no meeting elsewhere in Burgenland where you can hear people talk in English, Croatian, German and Hungarian. And most of them understand Hianzisch. On the other hand the “Burgenländische Gemeinschaft” was honored by the participation of Miss Leora Zach, “Miss Brüderschaft New York 2005”.
Two days later Leora, the Zach family (Alois and Rose, Frank and Eleanor), Rudy and Josefine Drauch and Mr Joe Zinter were invited to have a guided tour through Southern Burgenland. In the meantime, this tour has become a good tradition, guided by three members of the executive board of the “Burgenländische Gemeinschaft”, Eduard Nicka, Erwin Weinhofer and Walter Dujmovits jr. After visiting the famous jade museum in Bernstein and having a good lunch at the “Heanznhof”, the group was brought to Bad Tatzmannsdorf. We went to the “Avita-Hotel” and the spa of Bad Tatzmannsdorf and had an outstanding tour afterwards.

Mr Karl Reiter, the owner of the “Reiter Supreme”-Hotel, is running Europe’s largest Lipican horse-breeding farm in private hand. These white horses are well-known all over the world, as they get trained for the shows in the “Wiener Hofreitschule”. It was very interesting to watch the horses in their stable, especially the cute, dark foals.

Though it was such a rainy day, the tour was at an end in Bad Tatzmannsdorf having a walk at a very beautiful site, the “Freilichtmuseum”. We saw houses from several villages in Burgenland, some of them rather shacks than houses we use to live in. They originally had been built about two centuries ago, and after being vacant for a couple of years have been transferred to this wonderful area in Bad Tatzmannsdorf.

Finally “Miss Brüderschaft New York” was honored during the “wine blessing ceremony” at the Magaditsch place in Deutsch Ehrensdorf. The “Miss”-wines were blessed by Mr. Walter Dujmovits, sr. From that time on Leora called him “Father Walter“.
This is how the “Burgenländische Gemeinschaft” tries to make her guests, the “Miss” and her relatives feel good during their vacation back in Burgenland.

Yours,
Walter Dujmovits, jr.