Margrave Chair replica to be dedicated by Bavarian Inn family during Sister City celebration

FRANKENMUTH, Mich. - June 1, 2022 - PRLog -- A historic replica of what is known as a "Margrave Chair" in Germany will be dedicated to the community by the Bavarian Inn family during the upcoming 60^th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Frankenmuth, Mich. and Gunzenhausen, Germany.

Located in front of the Covered Bridge Shop along Main Street, it will be known as the Sister City Chair and will be dedicated at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 10 during a weekend of sister city celebrations.

The chair is based on a historic chair located in the Ansbach Palace, the ancient seat of the margrave of Brandenberg-Ansbach. A margrave was a historic title of a provincial German military commander, later becoming a more general title for a level of German nobility.

The Sister City Chair, which will no doubt become a new Frankenmuth attraction, showcases a special sister city crest as well as the crest of the margrave of Brandenberg-Ansbach. Standing 8 feet tall and 5 feet across, the special chair will be protected from the elements by a large canopy approximately 14 feet high and 11 feet across.

On hand for the chair dedication will be Frankenmuth community officials and some 20 dignitaries from Gunzenhausen, including its mayor (Burgermeister) Karl-Heinz Fitz as well as other noted leaders Friedrich Kolb, Ingeborg Herrmann and Renate Herrmann.

"We are proud to share the creation of the Sister City Chair with our sister city friends and the entire Frankenmuth community," says Covered Bridge Shop President and Owner Judy Zehnder Keller. "This will be a wonderful dedication during what is going to be fun anniversary celebration."

Originally started in 1962, the sister city relationship began when Frankenmuth leaders recognized that the community and its people shared common ancestral and Christian heritage with Franconia in northern Bavaria. That year Frankenmuth leaders extended an invitation to the community of Gunzenhausen to become sister cities as part of what was known at the time in the United States as the "People to People" program. Bavarian Inn matriarch Dorothy Zehnder, age 100, is the only living person who made the first sister city trip to Germany.

The two sister cities continue to maintain an active relationship via exchanges of high school students, college student interns, scouts, and tour groups, as well as many personal friendships.

The anniversary will include several other community tours and events, including a tree dedication, Bavarian Festival parade, service at St. Lorenz Church and a banquet at the Bavarian Inn Lodge.