The New Braunfels Comal County Crime Stoppers won the coveted People’s Choice award for the 2009 Wassailfest.

Their wassail beat out 38 other entries to take the title Thursday evening.

The city parks and recreation department Friday morning counted the results of the ballots cast Thursday night.

After counting more than 2,400 ballots, at least twice, Crime Stoppers was declared the winner, said city recreation manager Robin Kunkel.

The dozen winners that comprise the Crime Stoppers wassail-making team and a few friends showed up for the awards ceremony Friday afternoon in the ballroom of the New Braunfels Civic Convention Center. They were in a jovial mood, congratulating each other for a job well done.

Kunkel and Stacy Laird Dicke, director of parks and recreation, presented the awards with City Council member Sandy Nolte to the large Crime Stoppers group.

Groups and businesses varied widely in the amount of wassail they mixed for the event, from 5 or 6 gallons to more than 100 gallons.

The Crime Stoppers team made a 32-gallon batch and still ran out.

“We have battle scars, see,” said Sarah Lehr, showing off a slight burn on her hand from heating the wassail.

“We worked so hard, never stopped,” said Teresa Simpson, vice-chair of New Braunfels Comal County Crime Stoppers. “It helped though that we were No. 1 in the listing,” she said, referring to the map and ballot for Wassailfest, which had Crime Stoppers listed as the first stop.

The Crime Stoppers knew they had to at least be in the running for People’s Choice, because they ran out of their supply of 3,000 disposable cups before the night was over.

“We’ll provide more cups per group next year, as long as they’re biodegradable,” Kunkel said.

Kunkel said attendance at Thursday night’s Wassailfest was about what organizers expected.

“There were about 7,000 to 8,000 people there based on the number of ballots (turned in) and what the police estimated,” she said.

Eric J Weilbacher - The Herald Zeitung