Pre-Halloween Fun: Exciting Oktoberfest

Who is ready for Oktoberfest! Guttentag, Willkommen, Wunderbar! October can be such a fun month! Of course we all anticipate Halloween, which is what this website is about. But just before Halloween there is this great German Festival! Even if you know nothing about the festival, the sights and sounds of German Culture are in full swing.

Beer, Pretzels, and Bratwurst

It’s not a requirement, but Oktoberfest is particularly centered around beer! Beer the staple to the German diet and who can forget the name sakes of Anheuser Busch, Budweiser, and Heineken. Though I can’t particularly say that I’m a heavy drinker – you can at least try looking or acting like you’re having beer. Then there are the die-hard beer drinkers and the tipsy – you’ll see plenty of those if you go to the festival.

I personally much prefer the food of Oktoberfest versus the beer. Pretzels are always a winner for me. But I’ve always enjoyed Bratwurst as well. I particularly like the flavors that the Bratwurst brings out when it’s cooked. And of course you don’t have to stick with pretzels and bratwurst. You can go deeper into German cuisine with delicious desserts. Strudel, Zwetschgenknoedel, Kirschenmichel, Apfelkuchle – these types of German deserts all come to the tip of our tongues when we think of German deserts. Germans make some fantastic sweets – be sure to give them a try.

And a good reminder, if you decide that you want to go non-alcoholic altogether and you have kids (or you just don’t like alcohol or avoid it) – give some delicious apple cider or apple juice a try! Its great for the October season.

The sights and Sounds of the German Festival

And who can forget the sound of the German festival! That exciting celebratory sound of Oompah-pah and the bright zag of the polka. Don’t forget to join into the dancing – it’ll give you a workout and put some dance into your step. And it’s also probably easier to dance to polka after you’ve had a couple of beers or two, ha, ha, ha.

Don’t forget the fantastic sites of an Oktoberfest celebration! The carnival and fair type atmosphere is a delight with beer tents, drinking mugs, pretzel and bratwurst stands, and dancing halls. Then most fun all is wearing lederhosen and German attire – it really adds a lot to the celebration. I particularly enjoy my German hat that you can see in the following picture.

Places to Go for Oktoberfest

For my Oktoberfest celebration I went to small town called Leavenworth in the Washington State region. And Leavenworth is basically the Oktoberfest capitol of the Pacific Northwest in General. They have fantastic German themed shops peppered all throughout Leavenworth. The German themed buildings are an absolute delight and make you feel like you’ve taken a little trip to Bavaria. The Leavenworth shops are adequately named with German names like Ludwig and Mozart.

The town of Leavenworth has also installed a quaint little Ferris wheel that lights up the Leavenworth skyline. Leavenworth has beautiful light displays for Oktoberfest (and the Christmas season as well). The lights really put you in a festive mood where you can’t wait to break out in lederhosen and a polka!

Be sure to do an internet search for Oktoberfest near me to find a great spot to celebrate. In Washington State there are two other big festivals that happen in early October – one in Puyallup and another in Fremont.