We attended our first Bavarian Blast in New Ulm yesterday, making sure to arrive in plenty of time for TubaMania. Turns out it was not a tuba contest as I had thought, but is instead a tuba pickup band. If you have a tuba and want to play, you show up in the morning, rehearse with everyone, and play in the afternoon. Nobody gets turned away.

We stayed for about half an hour of tuba-ing. As we turned to wander off to another tent, they began a version of Amazing Grace that drew us back to the bleachers. It was a sort of quintessential southern Minnesota moment: Schell’s beer from the New Ulm brewery, a hot breeze, the smell of bratburgers drifting over from the food stand. Kids running around in shorts and everybody dancing to the band.