Klein Forest High will be site

Klein Forest High School will be the site of this year’s Klein German Festival, an annual celebration of music, food and culture beginning at 5 p.m. on Feb. 26. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children in fifth grade and younger. Admission is free for preschool children.

Tickets are not available at the door and are only available for purchase before the event at any Klein ISD school or administrative building. Dinner will be served until 7 p.m. during the event, followed by music and performances.

Among the festival’s highlights are German music and exhibition dances performed by student from Klenk Elementary School and Trinity Lutheran Church School. The Klein Forest High School Men’s Choir will perform and featured professional performer The Henry Tannenberger German Band returns this year.

Now in its 45th year, the annual indoor event at a different Klein ISD school offers an opportunity to reflect on the storied history and heritage of the area, founded as an agricultural community by a group of German immigrants in the 1840s. Just down the road in Tomball, a bigger more public celebration is held every year called the Tomball German Heritage Festival; in recent years its organizers have expanded to also celebrate during a Christmas market event in December.

Some of the community’s founding families names are familiar to local residents, if not just for the naming of geo- graphic landmarks and streets. Families Klein, Benfer, Kaiser, Lemm, Theiss, Wunderlich and Strack settled here first; Klein Independent School District was founded later in 1938.

Klein Forest High School is located at 11400 Misty Valley Drive in Houston. Learn more at www.kleinisd.net.