Wurstfest is an annual fall "Salute to Sausage" celebration held on grounds adjacent to Landa Park in New Braunfels. The idea for a sausage festival was conceived in 1961 by Dr. E.A. Grist, a veterinarian and city meat inspector, at a time when New Braunfels had nineteen commercial sausage-making businesses and sausage making remained a local German tradition passed down since the city’s founding. The festival was first held at the National Guard Armory, Landa Park, and Main Plaza, then moved in 1967 to an industrial site first developed in 1850 by William H. Meriwether, who diverted the Comal River for a millrace to run his grain mills, and later used by Joseph Landa for Landa Industries beginning in 1860, which became Dittlinger Mills. Several buildings from that industrial era are used for the celebration. In 1968, the event expanded to ten days. It is hosted by the Wurstfest Association of New Braunfels, a nonprofit corporation that seeks to promote the economy through tourism and preserve the community’s German heritage, with operations carried out by more than 150 association members along with volunteers and temporary employees. Local clubs and organizations, along with business vendors, operate food and merchandise concessions that raise money for their projects and programs, and the festival is known for distinctive foods prepared by hometown residents, Alpine and Bavarian musical entertainment, and its setting along the spring-fed Comal River.