Jeff Jeffers is developing the Auslander Restaurant into a respected Texas music venue. Each spring he hosts the Auslander Spring Music Festival. The popular restaurant and biergarten is located at 323 East Main. Photo by Phil Houseal
Details:
The Auslander Spring Music Festival runs each spring. Information for the festival is available online at www.theauslander.com or at The Auslander, 323 E. Main St., or by calling 830-997-7714.
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Auslander:
German atmosphere with a Texas twist
by Phil Houseal
March 8, 2006
While he was cooking and waiting tables in the Auslander Restaurant as a student, Jeff Jeffers never envisioned himself owning the recognized Main Street establishment, let alone hosting a music festival there.
But 15 years later, the Fredericksburg High School grad is preparing to present the first annual Auslander Spring Music Festival, March 9 - 18.
Jeffers was coaching football at Baytown Sterling High School four years ago when he received a call from his former boss Mike Clark, who wondered if Jeffers was interested in buying the Auslander.
“I had no intention of running a restaurant,” Jeffers recalled. “But Mike made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
As the new owner, one of the first changes Jeffers implemented was overhauling the outdoor biergarten. It had been a long, narrow graveled area, opening on Main Street at one end and the alley in back, covered by tin. (“Rocks and a roof,” as Jeffers described it.)
Jeffers added an outdoor bar, extended the seating area, and installed ceiling fans, creating a more appealing atmosphere.
“We wanted to change it from a German ‘biergarten’ into a Texas beer garden,” he said.
He admits the idea of featuring music wasn’t even his own.
“I had a friend who asked if he could come up and play for tips,” he said. “That started the idea of trying to do music.”
Despite “taking some lumps” at first, Jeffers noticed people were coming out for the music, and so he began featuring Texas bands several nights a week.
Now, Jeffers has upped the music ante by hosting the first Auslander Spring Music Festival - 10 straight days of Texas bands from Gary P. Nunn and Shake Russell to Buster Jiggs and Cooder Graw
“I have a passion about this,” he said. “I love Texas music.”
The response to ticket sales has been “phenomenal,” and Jeffers is already looking ahead.
“I hope by the second or third year it will grow so much we will have to find another venue,” he said. “We can handle 200, but we want to be able to attract even bigger drawing bands, while keeping it in an affordable price range.”
For now, he hopes everyone will try to stop by at least one of the next 10 evenings.
“We offer a truly unique experience here,” he said. “We tie in good music, German atmosphere, and German food, but with a ‘Texas twist” in a beautiful outdoor setting. We always try to make sure people have fun, whether they are age 12 or 75 years old - they’ll have a good time.”
And if you haven’t been there in awhile, Jeffers asks you to come back.
“It’s not the old Auslander; it’s different now,” he said, adding, “You won’t find oompah here.”
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