Since the 2003 UNESCO Convention, cultural heritage policies have promoted diversity and grassroots participation. Deborah Sielert explores how these global discourses do and do not unfold in three small towns in northern Germany, where Portuguese, Dutch, and East Frisian minorities have shaped the cultural sphere since the 1990s – despite the absence of official heritage frameworks. Through a comparative multi-sited study, the research traces how local actors engage with symbolic boundary-making in ethnicised festivals and associations, and how global heritage regimes inform these endeavours. This study offers a fresh sociological lens on the interplay between local sensemaking and the worldmaking power of heritage discourse.