Achtung, foodies

By Casey Gillis

Published: September 16, 2008

The Lynchburg Community Market will celebrate all things German this weekend.

The cultural exchange-promoting program Sister City of Lynchburg-Plus is teaming up with Main Street Eatery to hold German Day at the market from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

German food — everything from apple strudel to sauerkraut to bratwurst and beyond — will be for sale, either ready to eat on the spot or to go.

“People can have a chance to talk about what Sister City does,” says board member Betsy Jones. “We’ll have all this food and, hopefully, music.”

Sister City of Lynchburg is part of Sister City International, a network dedicated to establishing stronger economic and cultural ties between U.S. and international communities.

The program, established locally in 1996, pairs up communities, which then send people back and forth to learn about each other’s cultures. Lynchburg has two sister cities: Rueil-Malmaison, France, and Glauchau, Germany.

“As we’ve become more and more of a global society … for (citizens) of all countries to get to know each other better — on a student level, as professionals going back and forth, the arts going back and forth — it just makes understanding different cultures and different people very important,” Jones says.

A group of German students is set to arrive here Oct. 10.

All proceeds from German Day will go toward the travel costs for Lynchburg students visiting sister cities, and toward the costs of hosting German and French students here.

if you’re going
WHAT: German Day
WHEN: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sept. 20
WHERE: Lynchburg Community Market
INFO: Benefits sister city programs through the Sister City of Lynchburg-Plus