Oktoberfest at The Bangerts'

As the cool air develops at night and the smell of bonfires cloud the air, we can hear the sounds of high school football in the distance and we know fall is officially here.  Despite loving the summer for boating weather and winter for the hockey season, fall has a special place in my heart as well.

Each year, the Bangert family hosts an Oktoberfest party at our house to celebrate our German heritage, eat delicious German cuisine, imbibe in some German hops, and spend an evening with friends.  We ask everyone to dress up in German attire and spend most of the night outside warming ourselves by the fire.  We serve only German and Oktoberfest beer, bratwurst with special beer sauce, homemade German hot potato salad, sauerkraut, sauerkraut balls, pretzels, and of course, many hot and spicy mustards.  The menu is similar to the real Oktoberfest in Munich. In addition to the true German food, we have hours of traditional and modern polka music.

Similar to most other Oktoberfest celebrations our party falls in the month of September.  Why does October’s namesake party always seem to be observed in the month of September you ask?  Well for us it works well around hockey season, it’s still warm enough and stays light until 8pm, and most importantly it’s in the middle of the true Oktoberfest in Germany.  This year particularly, as we were outside and the harvest moon shined upon us, I heard a few different stories on what the true Oktoberfest [hosted in Munich Germany every year] is really celebrating and realized many people don’t realize the true inception of this now annual event.

The first iteration of what we now know as Oktoberfest was actually held on October 12, 1810 in honor of Prince Ludwig, who later became King Ludwig I in celebration of his marriage to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.  The citizens of Munich attended the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event.  Horse races that marked the close of the event were repeated in subsequent years giving rise to the tradition of Oktoberfest.

The festival was eventually prolonged and moved ahead to September to allow for better weather conditions [one of the reasons our family hosts it the last Saturday of September].  Today, Oktoberfest is a 16-day (depending on the year 17-days or 18-days) festival taking place during the 16-days up to, and including, the first Sunday in October

The modern day Oktoberfest may be similar to we know as a State Fair with the festival celebrating the German traditions, agriculture, fair rides, parades, and their country’s breweries.

So now we know, every year, as Oktoberfest celebrations commence in cities and towns across the world, we are actually celebrating a wedding reception that took place over 200 years ago. I wonder why no one throws a party on my wedding anniversary every year?

Jay Bangert | Project Manager