By Nick Falsone | The Express-Times
Hey, at least I didn’t spill much beer.
This is probably one of the only positive statements that can be gleaned from my performance Saturday night in the beer stein races during ArtsQuest’s inaugural Oktoberfest. SteelStacks in South Bethlehem hosted the event, which ran for consecutive weekends and ended Sunday evening.
ArtsQuest spokesman Mark Demko told me the event was a great success and the organization is already working on ideas for next year.
“More than 23,000 people attended the first Oktoberfest presented by Yuengling, which is excellent for a first-year festival,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Aside from typical Oktoberfest sites like beer drinking, polka music and bratwurst, the event featured a number of competitions including the stein races.
The drunk and sober alike volunteered to participate.
I was somewhere in between, closer to the sobriety end even though the Yuengling Oktoberfest draughts packed a punch, when my wife convinced me to make an ass out of myself.
The object of the stein race is simple enough: Six Musikfest mugs are filled with beer and placed on two tables that are about 30 feet or so from one another. You grab the six mugs from one table, run over to the other table and put down all six mugs.
Then, you pick up the other six mugs and run them back to the starting point.
Finally, you wait for a guy with a microphone to tell you and dozens of spectators that you’re slower than the vast majority of your fellow participants, including a few lushes who were probably on the cusp of projectile vomiting into the Lehigh River.
I came in at 12.3 seconds, which was slower than Express-Times News Editor Ashleigh Graf. It also was much slower than the guy with a New York accent who claimed he was from Germany and donned a beer-stained T-shirt imprinted with a lederhosen pattern.
But while Graf and the pseudo-German beat me in expediency, it needs to be noted that both spilled mass quantities of beer, but were not penalized. There’s video evidence out there of Graf’s spillage, but she’s declined to publicly release the footage.
I didn’t protest to the guy with the microphone, who seemed to be serving as both MC and referee. But in hindsight, perhaps I should’ve said something. Speedy delivery from UPS or FedEx is great, but if the package is damaged or missing something, it doesn’t really matter how long it took to get to the doorstep?
Besides, my poor time mark was quickly forgotten by almost all the spectators, who seemed more interested in witnessing serious lapses in mobility rather than efficient and delicate transport of brewed beverages.
And there were plenty of lapses. People crashed into fences, dropped entire beers, lost footwear, slipped on puddles of stale beer and, in at least one case, crawled to the finish line. There were no serious injuries as far as I could tell.
So for Demko and those at ArtsQuest, I have two ideas for next year — hold more beer stein races and get more liability insurance.
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago at 6:52 pm. Add a comment
The great celebration of German culture was kicked off early this year for some people because Oktoberfest actually was meant to correspond with the beginning of Fall. Moorpark, California is one such community celebrating Oktoberfest according to tradition. But, most communities will throw together their celebrations for 18 days in October the way they are used to doing.
Donning the lederhosen, eating some brats, and hoisting beer steins are the traditions of Oktoberfest. But, there are people who don’t know anything about it. To me, my first Oktoberfest reminded me of a trip I made as a kid to Disney World. I remember hearing the music and watching the dancers as we walked by one part of the theme park. But, a few years later I would eventually go to a real Oktoberfest and there was so much more to it than Disney’s version.
Lederhosen – Shorts that extend to the knees and are commonly worn with suspenders. Credited mainly to Bavarian people, Lederhosen went out of style at one time because people believed they were peasant clothing and not appropriate for city dwelling folk. But, they were brought back by clubs who meant to preserve their cultural heritage.
Brats – Bratwurst served like a hotdog, only topped with onions, peppers and a whole plethora of other toppings.
Beer Hoist – A game that involves beer, mugs and lifting with one arm. You can start a collection with the beer steins you get at Oktoberfest if you go year after year.
Oktoberfest is over by now and it seems throughout the world, wherever it is celebrated, it went down without much of a hitch. No deaths were reported. Very little violence. It’s just a fun time. And the reason I go…
Well, other than meeting new people and having a good time…I love the St. Pauli’s Girl dress that many of the beautiful ladies at Oktoberfest are wearing.
Posted 2 years, 3 months ago at 11:02 am. Add a comment
Oktoberfest is the worlds largest festival taking place over 16 days in September and October. Why not throw your own Oktoberfest party with the help of these Oktoberfest party ideas:
1. Send out invites in the fashion of beer goggles, bratwurst, beer kegs, beer glasses, beer steins or lederhosen. You could cut them out of cardboard! State clearly that guests will be charged on the door if they fail to dress up!
2. For costumes, guys get to wear the awful lederhosen. Hold them up with some braces and you will look truly ridiculous. Get yourself a hat with feather and some knee height socks and you are set to go!
3. Ladies, you get to wear traditional Alpine peasant girl costume. This includes a lacy blouse and a tight bodice.
4. Your decorations should be in blue and white to represent the color of the Bavarian flag. Get plenty of blue and white balloons to stick up everywhere.
5. To make your venue look like a traditional brau haus bier keller, you need long wooden tables and benches. If necessary fix them together, but they should be in a long line!
6. Bake some gingerbread men and hang them from the ceiling. Make cut outs of lederhosen, beer glasses and beer kegs and also hang them up!
7. They may not be attractive but get some German flags for the walls. Also get plenty of miniature ones for the table decorations.
8. Consider hiring out a brass band to play traditional beer hall music. This of course is budget dependant!
9. Some traditional German food you should serve would be; sausage stuffed mushrooms, garlic bread, weiner schnitzel, bratwurst, nuremburger, sauerkraut, gingerbread, apple strudel and black forest cake.
10. Finally on to the beer! Germany makes the best beer in the world! Get in a wide variety of German beer as people will be wanting to sample many different kinds of beer. Make sure you have plenty of glasses and even beer steins.
We hope you have found some useful Oktoberfest Party Ideas here as well as inspiration for your theme party! We also have lots more Oktoberfest Party Ideas to help you with your party preparations and enable you to throw the best Oktoberfest party possible that your guests and yourself will remember forever!
Posted 2 years, 4 months ago at 12:19 pm. Add a comment
by Charles Jackson
Oktoberfest is the worlds largest fair taking place every year in Bavaria. You can also throw your own Oktoberfest party using the following Oktoberfest party ideas:
1. Send out invites in the fashion of beer goggles, bratwurst, beer kegs, beer glasses, beer steins or lederhosen. You could cut them out of cardboard! State clearly that guests will be charged on the door if they fail to dress up!
2. For costumes, the guys are expected to wear lederhosen leather shorts. They are truly horrible but very funny. Get some braces to hold them up! Also you’ll need some knee height white socks and a hat with a feather in!
3. Ladies, you get to wear traditional Alpine peasant girl costume. This includes a lacy blouse and a tight bodice.
4. Your decorations should be in blue and white to represent the color of the Bavarian flag. Get plenty of blue and white balloons to stick up everywhere.
5. To make your venue look like a traditional brau haus bier keller, you need long wooden tables and benches. If necessary fix them together, but they should be in a long line!
6. Hang cut outs of bratwurst, beer glasses, beer kegs and lederhosen from the ceiling.
7. Get some German flags to hang on the walls. Also get plenty of mini versions to place on the tables.
8. If its in your budget why not hire out a brass band to play some traditional beer hall music.
9. Some traditional German food you should serve would be; sausage stuffed mushrooms, garlic bread, weiner schnitzel, bratwurst, nuremburger, sauerkraut, gingerbread, apple strudel and black forest cake.
10. Of course, the most important element of any Oktoberfest party is the beer. Make sure you stock up with plenty! Make sure it is German beer! There will be people wanting to try many different sorts of beer so get in a variety.
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We hope you have found some useful
Oktoberfest theme party Ideas here as well as inspiration for your theme party! We also have many more
Oktoberfest theme party Ideas to help you with your party preparations and enable you to throw the best Oktoberfest theme party possible that your guests and yourself will always remember!
Posted 2 years, 6 months ago at 11:43 am. Add a comment
