Guten Tag! Germany Delegation Arrives in St. Cloud Wednesday

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- St. Cloud will be saying Guten Tag to a delegation from one of our sister cities this week.

A group of 16 people from Spalt, Germany arrive Wednesday night.

St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis says the tradition of visiting each other's communities began back in 2006 during St. Cloud's Sesquicentennial. The German delegation was supposed to come to St. Cloud in 2020 but it was delayed until this year due to COVID restrictions.

Kleis says one of the places he is taking the group is the wastewater treatment facility.

We actually have a German professor that will be here at the same time, so to be able to give a tour in German will be helpful for us. Plus, it's really cool. We're leading the world with what we're doing there with hydrogen. It will be really interesting.

They are also touring the CentraCare Simulation Lab and the Lindbergh Museum up in Little Falls.

They'll also be participating in and enjoying the events of Granite City Days. The Spalt delegation includes its longtime mayor Udo Weingart.

Since the delegation will be here, the Grand Marshal will be Udo. We'll have him in the front riding in a 1967 Mustang convertible. He'll be thrilled by that.

Since the sister city partnership began each community has named a park in honor of the other.