Likely we have made our final pilgrimage to attend the Ulm Heimattag. This two day meeting held on Pfingsten weekend in Ulm, where many immigrants to SE Europe embarked for the downriver voyage on the Danube, brings together Banaters from around the world every two years. The format of the meeting followed roughly that of previous years with folk dancing by Banater Trachten groups in the Ulm fussganger zone. A few hundred meters from the dancing was St Pauls the parish church were many Banaters were married before departing for the Banat. Only married adults were allowed to migrate and since the Ulm Muster was Protestant since the reformation, the marriages were preformed in this modest parish church. At the conclusion of the dancing and lead by the Blast Kapelle, the Trachten groups formed a procession for the march to the Rathaus and to a reception by the Oberburgermeister. After the reception the groups reformed and with the band leading marched down through the Altstadt to the Auswanderung Denkmal on the Danube shore for the wreath laying ceremony. This was the spot where migrants loaded aboard the barges for the Banat. The inscription on the side of the Denkmal reads, Von Ulm aus zogen Deutsche siedler, im 18 Jahrhundert auf der donau nach dem sudosten Europas Jhre Nachfahren kehrten vom schicksal nach dem zweiten welt Krieg aus ihrer Heimat vertrieben in das land ihrer vaters zurck In the evening there was a program of Donau Schwaben folk songs at the Donau Schwaben Zentral museum which is housed in one of the massive defensive bastions of the former Ulm fortifications. Judging by the audience reaction the music program was a smashing hit. Sunday's program at the Ulm fair grounds was mainly interesting for two great halls of tables set up with each labeled with the name of a village where one could meet ex neighbors and others from the home village. On our first attendance at the Heimattag 1996 it took seven large halls to hold the tables and the dense crowds, a clear sign of the passing of the older generation. Indeed several old timers with whom I have had a long standing relationship and had hoped to share a beer with were not present-----a pity but perhaps not unexpected. Unlike previous Heimattags, there were a striking number of information tables in the foyer, representing everything from HOGs, book publishers, including the AKdFF and AVBF as well as tourist authorities(Notably Temeswar) among others. The multitude of Banater book publishers gives the impression that every other Banater must be busy writing up experiences in the Banat, escape stories from Eastern Europe, composing novels or poetry Another feature this year was a series of lectures on Banat topics which included a lecture on beginning Banat family history research by AKdFF chairman, Guenter Junkers. The decreasing attendance at the Heimattag portends the day which will certainly come all too soon which will force a change to this occasion, possibly more from largely a social occasion to a more cultural or scholarly form. Dave Dreyer