New Harmony “Kunstfest” Weekend
September 20 @ 9:00 am - September 21 @ 5:00 pm EDT
CIR’s New Harmony “Kunstfest” Weekend is back!
New Harmony, Indiana is a special place and our CIR New Harmony “Kunstfest” Weekend is a very special event, and we only do it about every five years.
CIR’s New Harmony “Kunstfest” Weekend Auto Tour will be brought back this year on September 20 – 21, 2025 after a four-year hiatus. Kunstfest is New Harmony’s annual German arts, crafts, food and music festival and their largest and most popular festival of the year. “Kunst” means art in German.
New Harmony is an Indiana State Museum Historic Site and supported by the Lilly Foundation, Ball Foundation, Baffler Trust and the University of Southern Indiana. New Harmony was the location in 1814 where Harmonists from Harmony, Pennsylvania tried to establish a Utopian Society. They created many permanent structures that have all been restored and preserved and further established the first public school, first public library and promoted women’s rights a hundred years before anyone else even thought about it. Their experiment eventually failed, and they returned to Pennsylvania. Then in 1825 a Scottish philanthropist, Robert Owen, tried to create another Utopian Society of intellectuals, educators and progressives. Their experiment also failed, but their contributions to American Society are still felt to this day and changed American education and scientific research. The entire town is kind of a dichotomy. On one side of the street, you have state-of-the-art modern architecture and beautiful walk-through gardens and on the other side of the street are 200-year-old historic brick buildings and log cabins dating to the early 1800’s. If you have never been here before, we strongly recommend you take the Guided Group Historical Tour at 1 PM to fully understand New Harmony and all it represents.
Modern Atheneum Visitor’s Center with 200 yr. old Harmonist Log Cabins
Recently restored Philip Johnson’s 1960 Roofless Church
New Cathedral Labyrinth patterned after the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral, France
CIR’s weekend starts on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 9 AM with On Site Registration at Gray Bros. Cafeteria parking lot, just south of Mooresville off Ind. 67 South. Driver’s Meeting is at 9:30 AM and leaving at 10 AM sharp for the three-hour scenic drive to New Harmony via Ind. 67 So. and Ind. 57 So. Arriving in New Harmony at noon (Central Time – we gain an hour!) for lunch on your own at the Kunstfest festival and optional $10/person group-guided afternoon walking tours (golf cart rental available) at 1 PM of Historic New Harmony sites at the Atheneum Visitor’s Center. At 6 PM on Saturday there is a group dinner at the award-winning Red Geranium Restaurant in the reserved Tillich Room overlooking Swan Lake. Saturday night lodging is available for $119/night Porsche Club Group Rate at the contemporary New Harmony Inn in their Shaker-Style Rosebank Wing (20 Premium King Bed Rooms held under “Porsche Club”).
Sunday Lunch at BRU Burger Bar in restored Art Deco Evansville Greyhound Bus Terminal
Sunday guided tour of St. Meinrad’s Archabbey by a brother-monk
Sunday, Sept. 21 morning breakfast at 9 AM is on your own at the Red Geranium Restaurant with an informal Attendee’s Choice Porsche Car Show in the Red Geranium parking lot at 10 AM with locally made pottery trophies by Bee Tree Pottery for the top three cars, oldest and long-distance awards. Then we leave New Harmony at noon for a scenic 1/2 hr. drive to downtown Evansville for a 12:30 PM group lunch at BRU Burger Bar in the restored 1938 Art Deco Greyhound Bus Terminal. After lunch, there is a 1 1/2 hr. very scenic sports car drive to the spectacular St. Meinrad’s Archabbey (there are only 2 in the US) for an included (and entertaining) brother monk-guided walking tour of the Archabbey – you will think you are in Bavaria, Germany! The weekend ends at 5 PM Central Time (6 PM Eastern) with a 2 1/2 hr. all-Interstate drive back to Indy via I-64 E. & I-65 N. to I-465.
This year members of the Michiana Region are planning on joining us and we usually have members of the Southern Indiana Region also join us for parts of the weekend.
RSVP will open soon for a weekend you won’t forget down in “The Toe of Indiana”! $20/person Auto Tour Registration Fee. Go for one day or two. ($10/person/day).
Bob & Brigitta Snider, Tourmeisters
Questions: [email protected] or 765-760-2579 cell
New Harmony Inn Premium Lakeview King Bed Room with patio or balcony & electric fireplace
Hotel Accommodations: New Harmony Inn 800-782-8605 or 812-682-4431 and Press 2 for room reservations. Tell them you are with the Porsche Club to get our $119 Group Discount Rate and choose your room type for Saturday, Sept. 20. Courtyard View or Lakeview, Electric Fireplaces, patios or balconies and Loft rooms are all available in the Rosebank building. Elevators and all rooms are non-smoking.
More info:
Start GPS: Gray Brothers Cafeteria south parking lot, 555 S. Indiana St., Mooresville, IN 46158 – just off Ind. 67 S., south of Mooresville (cafeteria does not open until 11 AM, but there is a McDonald’s and other restaurants nearby)
https://www.VisitNewHarmony.com
https://www.NewHarmonyInn.com/dining/dining-menus