Saengerfest

Saengerfest, also Sängerfeste, Sängerfest, or Saengerbund, meaning "singer's festival", is a German cultural festival with a focus on music and singing, and choral performance in particular.

Saengerfests have been held in the United States since 1849, the year when the German Sängerbund of North America came into existence. Similar festivals have also been held in Canada since 1862, with the most prominent of these being in Berlin (later Kitchener) in Ontario.

Although some local festivals were cancelled or suspended during the years of World War I and World War II due to rising anti-German sentiment, the Saengerfest tradition has largely survived, and many communities have Saengerfests today. Many of these are in areas with a high German population, such as Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which hosted its 49th Saengerfest in 2006 with the help of the Nordöstlicher Sängerbund. The 50th Saengerfest, hosted by the [http://www.saengerbund.org Washington Saengerbund] , will take place 2009 Memorial Day Weekend in the Nation's Capital, Washington, D.C.