Beering it all

Jenny Marder

The German sausages frying on the grill and the Austrian foot

stomping tunes at Oktoberfest on Sunday triggered a rush of nostalgia

for Julie Gebhard, who has vivid childhood memories of helping her

father sell bratwurst out of his trailer at German festivals.

“I’m coming to have a drink on him,” Gebhard said. “This brings

back a lot of memories.”

Since 1978, people have gathered for Oktoberfest at Old World

Village, on Center Avenue between Beach Boulevard and Gothard Street

in Huntington Beach.

Like the music, the mood at Oktoberfest on Sunday was boisterous

and playful. Accordion music from the Austrian band Klaustaler

spilled out from the festival hall and inside, couples shuffled their

feet and clapped their hands to traditional German dances such as the

Zillerthaler Wedding March, the Donkey Wave and the Chicken Dance.

Vendors sold bratwurst, sauerkraut, German sausages, apple strudel

and other German specialties. At a full bar, bartenders dish out

shots of Jaegermeister, apple schnapps, Rumpleminz and Goldschlager.

The beer menu included Spaten Oktoberfest, Lowenbrau Oktoberfest,

Warsteiner, Dinkelacher and Becks Oktoberfest.

The festival kicked off Sept. 14 and runs until Oct. 26.

Nick Nicholson and his wife, Ann, have brought their children to

Oktoberfest every year.

“It’s a family tradition that’s carried on from generations and

generations,” Nick Nicholson said.

Their daughter Nicole, 14, said that she’s done the Chicken Dance

practically since she was born. As a child, she remembers wearing

German dresses and learning the steps to old German dances with the

other children in the festival hall.

“It’s fun because it’s different,” Nicole said. “It’s cool to have

something from another country come here.”

Partygoers need not be of German descent, said Bernie Bischof,

manager of Old World Village.

“Everybody seems to find German roots during Oktoberfest,” Bischof

joked.

Bischof’s father, Joe Bischof, founded Old World Village in

September 1978.

The village, with its cobblestone streets, red-tile roofs,

sidewalk cafes and pubs, was built to resemble a Bavarian village.

“There’s a strong German community here in America overall,”

Bischof said.

The village also hosts a Mardi Gras celebration every spring and

monthly Dachshund races.

Oktoberfest started in 1812 in Munich, Germany, as a wedding

anniversary celebration for King Ludwig I and Queen Therese. At the

wedding party, people are said to have consumed 40,000 chickens,

80,000 pork sausages and 1 million gallons of beer.

The festival has since grown into the world’s largest beer bash.

Herb Schwarz, 55, known by regulars as “the Herbmeister,” is

celebrating his 20th year at Oktoberfest in Huntington Beach.

“It’s just a lot of good, clean fun,” Schwartz said. “That’s a

rare commodity these days.”

The festival will run from 5 to 10 p.m. today, from 5 p.m. to 1

a.m. tomorrow, from 6:30 p.m. Saturday to 1:30 a.m. Sunday; and from

2 to 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Admission is free tonight, $10 on Friday and Saturday and $4 on

Sunday.

For more information on Oktoberfest at Old World Village, call

(714) 647-7107.

* JENNY MARDER covers City Hall. She can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at [email protected].