Stanglwirt Weisswurstparty

At our 29th Weisswurstparty, we celebrated ski legends and honoured Niki Lauda and Toni Holnburger

With a cry of it “Weiss Wurscht is!” and the clang of the 400-year-old Stanglwirt bell, Stanglwirt host Balthasar Hauser opened the Weisswurstparty of 2020 together with his wife Magdalena and daughter Maria at 8 pm. The Stanglwirt family celebrated the official opening of the party together with their long-standing friends Arnold Schwarzenegger, who travelled from L.A. with his girlfriend Heather Milligan and, for the first time, his daughter Christina, Andreas Gabalier, celebrity chef Alfons Schuhbeck, and ski legends Karl Schranz, Fritz Strobl, Hias Leitner and Stephan Eberharter, without whom the Hahnenkamm race and the Weisswurstparty would simply not be the same.

Before the start of the varied entertainment programme for the 2500 guests, there was a very touching moment, as the Weisswurstparty community held a minute of silence in honour of Niki Lauda (22/02/1949–20/05/2019) and Weisswurstparty founder, Toni Holnburger (20/06/1969–08/06/2019). “It was a matter close to our hearts to thank our two long-standing friends Toni Holnburger and Niki Lauda, and to express that we will always remember them,” said Maria Hauser.

Toni Holnburger started the weisswurstparty in 1991 rather by accident when he invited the skiers of the Austrian Ski Association to a white sausage dinner at the Stanglwirt; Niki Lauda was not only a close friend of the Hauser family, but helped open the Weisswurstparty for many years. “The minute of silence was the most emotional moment of the Weisswurstparty,” said Maria Hauser, appearing moved, “I was very positively touched when, in the midst of all the cheer and celebration, the room fell silent in honour of our dear friends.”

Guests were well-fed and watered by Elton, who played the master butcher, as well as Sascha Vollmer and Alec Völkel, a.k.a. BossHoss, who as first-timers enthusiastically helped hand out the white sausages, while DJ Ötzi, Verona Pooth, Franziska Knuppe and Mariella Ahrens, among others, gave interviews on the red carpet and Arnold Schwarzenegger praised the “greenest hotel in Europe with the best white sausages and the best schnapps”.

Entertainment in the spirit of ‘Trend meets Tradition`
The well-known Oktoberfest band Troglauer, and Schlager stars Marc Pircher and Melissa Naschenweng drummed up a boisterous atmosphere in the converted Lipizzaner riding hall. This was followed by a performance from German rapper, Sido. “It was clear to us that Sido is a polarising artist,” said Maria Hauser. “Since he and his family have been our guest several times in the past and he personally appreciates our business and our philosophy, and impressed the audience as a coach on ‘The Voice of Germany’, we thought a performance in the spirit of this year’s motto, ‘Trend meets Tradition’, would make for a trendy, youthful event.” Sido appeared in lederhosen and entertained the audience with hits such as Astronaut, Tausend Tattoos and Bilder im Kopf, but irked the crowd with distasteful comments in between. The host of the Stanglwirt wishes to distance himself from any comments that were made. “We wanted to give our guests a welcome surprise with Sido and his popular chart hits, and open our doors to new music genres. Although Sido’s comments may have been made with tongue in cheek, they are shocking and have betrayed the confidence we placed in him.”