Gauder Fest
The more than 500-year-old Gauder Fest, held on the first weekend in May, is Austria's biggest folk festival. Thousands of visitors, many of them in traditional costume from Tyrol and other parts of Austria, pack the little market town of Zell am Ziller for the colorful skits, music, and singing—and great quantities of Gauderbier, a strong brew created for the occasion. You can hear some of the country's best singing by the valley residents and listen to expert harp and zither playing, for which the valley is famous. Tradition runs strong here, so even if you can't make it in May, there are other festival opportunities: witness the Perchtenlaufen, processions of colorfully masked well-wishers going the neighborhood rounds on January 5; or come for the annual Almabtrieb on the last September and first October days, when the cows (decorated with wreaths and bells) are herded back from the high Alpine pastures into the lower fields and barns.
