Since about 2005, we have held an annual Liars Contest at the Kutztown Folk Festival. These Liars Contests are held in Pennsylvania Dutch (Deitsch) followed by an English translation. By 2015 or so, they became popular enough so that we held two every year.
Liars Contests are popular expressive forms in American culture. They derive form American humor and story-telling which use exaggeration and over-statement, perhaps deriving from all the new and surprising experiences on the frontiers. Tall Tale and Liars Contest can be found in America’s newspapers going back at least to the early 1800s. Their popularity seemed to rise in the late 19th century.
Pennsylvania Germans started holding their own Deitsch Liars’ contests in the middle of the 20th Century. They seemed to have some popularity in the 1950s into the early 1960s and then became less frequent.
Contestants were told that they had about 20 minutes for their story in English and Deitsch.
For an example see:
Breininger, Donald. “En Lieg beim Donnie Breininger.” Transcribed and translated by Ron Treichler. Der Reggeboge 39, nos. 1/2 (2005): 65–68.
For a discussion about tall tales in American culture see:
Blair, Walter, and Hamlin Lewis Hill. America’s Humor: From Poor Richard to Doonesbury. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.
Submissions from 2019
Deitsch Liars Contest #2 2019 July 5, Dave Adam, Kevin Sterner, Patrick Donmoyer, Don Breininger, Jean Adam, and Dave Adam
Deitsch Liars Contest #1 2019 June 30, Mary Laub, Kevin Sterner, and Dave Adam
Submissions from 2018
Deitsch Liars Contest #2 2018 July 7, Richard Savidge, Dave Adam, Don Breininger, and Kevin Sterner
Deitsch Liars Contest #1 July 5 2018, Kevin Sterner, Mary Laub, Dave Adam, Don Breininger, and Patrick Donmoyer
Submissions from 2017
Deitsch Liars Contest #2 July 7 2017, Kevin Sterner, Patrick Donmoyer, Don Breininger, and Dave Adam
Deitsch Liars Contest #1 July 2 2017, Richard Savidge, Kevin Sterner, Patrick Donmoyer, Dave Adam, and Don Breininger
Submissions from 2016
Deitsch Liars Contest 2016 #2 July 9, Dave Adam and Kevin Sterner
Deitsch Liars Contest #1 July 6 2016, Richard Savidge, Dave Adam, Patrick Donmoyer, Don Breininger, and Robert Kline
Submissions from 2015
Deitsch Liars Contest #2 July 3 2015, Richard Savidge, Don Breininger, Patrick Donmoyer, and Dave Adam
Deitsch Liars Contest #1 June 28 2015, Richard Savidge, Patrick Donmoyer, Don Breininger, Dave Adam, and Kevin Sterner
Submissions from 2014
Deitsch Liars Contest 2014, Richard Savidge, Dave Adam, and Patrick Donmoyer
Submissions from 2013
Deitsch Liars Contest 2013, Richard Savidge, Don Breininger, and Adam
Submissions from 2012
Deitsch Liars Contest2 2012, Patrick Donmoyer, Richard Savidge, and Lee Haas
Deitsch Liars Contest1 2012, Patrick Donmoyer, Richard Savidge, Dave Adam, and Lee Haas
Submissions from 2011
Deitsch Liars Contest 2011, Don Breininger, Dave Adam, Richard Savidge, and Lee Haas
Submissions from 2010
Deitsch Liars Contest 2010, Richard Savidge, Dave Adam, Lee Haas, and Don Breininger
Submissions from 2009
Deitsch Liars Contest 2009, Lee Haas, Richard Savidge, and Paul Kunkel
Submissions from 2007
Deitsch Liars Contest 2007, Don Breininger, Lee Haas, Paul Kunkel, and Leroy Brown
Submissions from 2006
Deitsch Liars Contest 2006, Don Breininger, Lee Haas, and Paul Kunkel
