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Instameet captures the spirit of New Ulm

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt George Glotzbach gave a New Ulm history lesson for the 27 members of the Instameet group touring the city Saturday afternoon.

NEW ULM — Over two dozen shutter bugs visited New Ulm Saturday as part of the Instameet sponsored by the New Ulm Chamber and Pickles Travel Blog.

Instagram enthusiasts were invited to explore New Ulm and photograph the various sites. The Chamber provided the instagrammers with a list of locations to explore. Several businesses including A to Zinnia, Lola’s, Inspired and Turner Hall often promotions to those on Instagram tour.

At mid afternoon the Instagram tour visited Turner Hall for a chance to photograph the murals and receive a history lesson from George Glotzbach.

The rain did force many of the instagrammers indoors. The Brown County Museum is already one of the most photographed buildings in New Ulm. With the rain many visitors chose to explore the exhibits inside.

Several instagrammers took to photographic food at the local restaurant. Lola’s coffee mug entrance and unique floor design were also popular subjects.

The impact of the rain was not completely negative. For some the rain allowed for more creative pictures.

“Instagram is a detailed oriented hobby,” Greta Alms said. “Reflective photographs are popular and with the rain that easy to do.”

Participants in the Instameet mostly came from the Twin Cities as a day trip. Missy Veckinburg and her family visited from Burnsville, Minnesota. On recent visit to California, Missy realized her home state of Minnesota had a lot to see and decided to explore closer to home. New Ulm happened to be one of the top tourist location on Explore Minnesota’s website.

Tyler and Shylah Joyals traveled the farthest for Instameet. The Joyals came from Billings, South Dakota to photograph New Ulm. The Joyals had already planned to visit New Ulm this weekend. Tyler said they were interested in touring Schell’s Brewery and found out the Instameet event included a free tour of the brewery.

Shylah said they intend to stay in town all weekend and tour the spots they missed Sunday.

A few of the instagrammers were locals. Matt Sparlin is from New Ulm and is professional photographer. He works with the National Wild Turkey Federation. The Instameet allowed him to use his camera in a none professional setting. At the brewery he and several others were lucky enough to photograph the peacocks wandering the property.

“The great thing about these instameets is people are seeing the same thing, but they each see it in a new way,” Alm said.

Sarah Warmka withe Chamber was excited with the turnout for New Ulm’s first Instameet and said future instameets were possible.

“It would be great to do it again when its not raining,” Warmka said.

A fall instameet would allow visitors to photograph the autumn colors.

Instagram users interested in viewing photos taken on Saturday may view them using the hashtags #PicklesTravel_NewUlm, #NewUlm and #GermansHaveMoreFun.

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