NEW ULM (AP) — Thousands of people descended on the southern Minnesota town of New Ulm this weekend for a “Schellabration.”

It was the 150th anniversary celebration for the Schell’s Brewery, the second-oldest, family-owned brewery in the United States.

The event featured a two-day musical lineup at New Ulm’s South Park — concluding with fireworks Saturday night.

Saturday’s parade included the Minneapolis Police Pipe Band, a New Ulm-based National Guard unit and a dozen visiting German police officers.

Plenty of food was available and so was nearly every variety of Schell’s beer.

The brewery itself also hosted tours, demonstrations and tastings.

August Schell, a machinist in a flour mill in New Ulm, founded the brewery with brewmaster Jacob Bernhardt in 1860. Schell had decided German beer was hard to find in rural Minnesota.

The location along the Cottonwood River remains the place the beer is brewed to this day.

Today, the Marti family, descendants of the Schells, own the brewery, known as the present-day brewer of Grain Belt Premium.