'The best bratwurst in town': Thousands of sausages served at Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival

Thousands of people followed their noses Thursday as they searched downtown Bucyrus for the world's most perfect bratwurst.

Sizzle, smoke and aroma filled the air as dozens of grill masters took turns flipping sausages for food vendors, churches and civic organizations all along Sandusky Avenue.

The 2024 Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival was scheduled to run through Saturday evening.

The event, now in its 57th year, attracts as many as 150,000 people to Crawford County every summer .

The festival is billed as the only one in Ohio that features a parade every evening.

This year's theme is "Brattie supports our First Responders!"

Who makes the best sausage at the Bratwurst Festival?

The quest for the best bratwurst ever begins each time a new sausage is placed on the grill.

Where to buy those brats is a debate that will never be settled.

Dale Gingery, the deputy knight for the Knights of Columbus Holy Trinity Council #711, believes the answer is C & B Country Meats, a family owned market south of Sulphur Springs on Locustgrove Road.

"Those are the only ones we sell," Gingery said. "They're members of our church."

Other chefs at the Bratwurst Festival might say differently, but those with the Knights of Columbus prefer C & B Country Meats.

"They make probably the best bratwurst in town," Gingery said.

Once the sausages are in hand, the Holy Trinity places them on the grill raw.

"We do not preboil them," Gingery explained. "We get a rush, we will preboil them, but we try not to. We try to stay ahead of them. They taste better that way."

He puts a couple dozen on the grill at a time, then watches them closely.

"Make sure they don't burn up," Gingery said. "We get them up to temperature, then get them in the crockpot."

'People you haven't seen all year'

There are plenty of other delicacies available at the Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival: bourbon chicken, French fries and homemade ice cream.

For local organizations, like Knights of Columbus, the event is their biggest fundraiser of the year — most of the churches and civic groups use that money to help residents of Crawford County.

Many of those folks end up coming through the festival, according to Jim Kafer, a warden with Knights of Columbus.

He grew up outside Bucyrus and has visited the Bratwurst Festival every summer since.

"So many people come around and we get to talk to them," Kafer said. "A lot of people you haven't seen all year."

There's so much going on every year at the festival that any time is good time to attend.

"I do like it a lot in the evenings," Kafer said. "The bands they have, I like bands like those."

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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: 'The best bratwurst in town': Thousands of sausages served at Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival