The Oktoberfest crowd was thin and subdued when Diane and I arrived at Oaks Park Friday afternoon. The Oaks Park train circled slowly carrying not a single passenger, and only one of the beer stands was open. But the band wore lederhosen and people kept trickling in. While the rest of our friends fought traffic, we enjoyed our first beers (Diane an Optimator, and I Oktoberfest) and browsed the vendors’ wares. Soon more friends arrived and we ensconced ourselves at the end of a long table in the big festhallen, conveniently close to the food, beer, and the stage.
Over the years this festival has grown on me. The Oaks Park setting on the river is beautiful and spacious, with plenty of picnic tables both outside and under the tents.
It’s always amusing to see full grown adults wearing dirndls, lederhosen, and other festival-wear.
And of course there is plenty of accordion music, dancing, sausage, and delicious beer!
One of the highlight of the Oktoberfest is the wiener dog races. The competition is on Saturday and Sunday, but on Friday night we were able to watch some of the practice runs.
Wiener Dog Races at Oktoberfest 2009 from Mile73 on Vimeo.
Go read Heather’s post at Mile73.com, A Night at Oktoberfest, for more on our Friday night and the wiener dog races!
I went last night also, to many old people for my taste. AOP.
Nevets – We realized when we arrived and looked at the schedule of events that it was “Senior Excitement” night. Definitely a mellower crowd than normal. It’ll probably be rocking tonight, but I’m thinking the Polish Festival will be better!