20 » OpenRoad Driver
We’re deep into Washington State on
Stevens Pass, a picturesque highway that
trails the often fierce whitewater of the
Wenatchee River on one side and the
behemoth Cascade Mountains on the
other. It’s hardly a place you’d expect to
run into a Bavarian-style city devoid of
Bavarian roots. But there Leavenworth is,
smack-dab in front of you: its architectural
style speaking loud and clear of Europe,
even if 90 percent of its citizens have never
been there.
But if Las Vegas can have Paris, then surely
Leavenworth can have Bavaria. After all,
it was Bavaria that saved this city from
becoming just another ghost town with
nothing but memories.
architecture and attire, tourism would
become the city’s new economy, saving it
from dusty ruin.
In the 1950s and 60s Leavenworth was in
decay, its community bisected by political
differences and economic ruin due to
the re-routing of the railway and the
consequent demise of the timber industry.
The city was hovering on the brink of
extinction when the idea of turning it into
a Bavarian hamlet was first voiced. City
planners hoped that by creating an Alpine
village in Leavenworth, one complete with
Bavarian food, festivals, horn blowing,
Fast forward 50 years and the Bavarian
village has become a phenomenal success
story and a testament to the economic
power of tourism. Whether by choice
or coercion, every retailer has embraced
the Bavarian style of architecture, from
Starbucks to Safeway and McDonald’s.
Signs on hotels bid travelers a “herzlicher
wilkommen” and the Bavarian beer garden,
with its live Latina music, is one of the
city’s hottest spots. Real estate has shot up,