Pittsburgh has a new Oktoberfest
Joe Flock has danced at hundreds of Oktoberfest celebrations both large and small over the last few decades. His mother was Bavarian, and his grandfather Joseph helped found the German “schuplattler” dance group he plattled with as a child growing up in Reading.
Over Labor Day weekend, for example, he and fellow members of the Bavarian-Austrian folk dance group D’Lustigen Isartaler of Pittsburgh performed at Cleveland’s annual fest at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds. They’ll also dance at this year’s Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh’s fest, which runs over two consecutive weekends starting on Friday.
He loves it, and not just because it’s been a good way to raise money for the club. Done well, Oktoberfest teaches people about his beloved German culture in a fun and engaging way.
Yet sometimes, the Slippery Rock resident says, local Oktoberfests are little more than fall festivals. “And it just bothers me.”
So when Jessica Rand approached Mr. Flock last year with the idea of starting a family-oriented Oktoberfest similar to Cleveland’s, he immediately came on board. The Isartalers had been pondering a larger fest for a few years, and “Jessica and I think the same way,” he says.
They’re going big right out of the gate. The new Pittsburgh Oktoberfest debuts at the Big Butler Fairgrounds in Prospect on Sept. 28-30. And much like the famed party that draws millions each year in Munich, Germany, it will feature not just a biergarten and authentic German food, but also live entertainment, crafters, games for all
ages, a children’s craft area and midway amusement rides that include Pittsburgh’s largest Ferris wheel.
The kid-friendly event also will hold a pet costume contest and dachshund dash, plus stein-holding and keg-rolling contests for grownups. In addition to raising funds for the Isartalers, proceeds will benefit the Butler County Humane Society and Toys for Pittsburgh Tikes.
Organizers hope to draw at least 20,000 fairgoers not counting children, who get in free, a number that even Ms. Rand concedes is a “big goal.” Then again, Cincinnati’s annual Oktoberfest Zinzinnati draws some 500,000 revelers over three days while Cleveland’s fest draws 40,000-plus visitors. “And everything we do in Pittsburgh is bigger than Cleveland,” she says, “so come on!”
An insurance adjuster, Ms. Rand moved from Texas to her husband’s hometown of Irwin in 2012. About three years ago, she starting pondering some sort of community event to raise money for a worthy nonprofit
Back in Texas, she did dozens of fundraisers for churches, community centers and schools. She missed giving back to the community, along with the chaos and challenge that comes with fundraising events.
It occurred to her that she’d been to a lot of Oktoberfests. But they always were watered-down American versions of the real deal. Why not organize an event that celebrated German culture in a really big and authentic way? A Google search led her to the Isartalers’ website. “And it took off from there,” she says.
President Bela Pater of Point Breeze, who’s been dancing with the club since 1994 and serves as its cultural historian, welcomed the call. He remembers going to a big Oktoberfest at the convention center with his German grandmother in the 1970s, and the impression it made. Like Mr. Flock, he also has attended the one in Munich, while studying music in Salzburg, Austria.
So many Pittsburghers can trace part of their family history back to Germany, he says. A citywide Oktoberfest would allow German Americans to embrace those roots. “It’s a small way to get in touch with their heritage.”
It’s especially important since so many ethnic churches have closed in recent years, “and traditions are talked about but not done so much.”
The Isartalers are not so much a dance troupe as a cultural education group with singing and food in addition to dance. “We wanted to do something authentic,” says Mr. Pater, director of music at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Shadyside.
While pints of beer are important for any Oktoberfest — the first one in 1810 was a party to celebrate the marriage of Munich’s Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen — Mr. Pater points out that Pittsburgh Oktoberfest is not just a beer festival. Mr. Flock, a former food scientist at HJ Heinz who now runs a food consulting firm, is making bratwurst with other group members with meat from Thoma Meat Market in Saxonburg and Con Yeager spices, and vendors will include The Original Strudel Factory in Conneaut Lake. And Atria’s is catering a “mega mixer” German meal ($40) on Sept. 28 from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Along with local craft beers, Oktoberfest Pittsburgh also will feature something not all that common at local celebrations — beer brewed in Munich, including Paulaner Oktoberfest.
There also will be name entertainment. Penn Stater and Grammy nominee Alex Meixner and his band will play Sept. 29 from 7 to 11 p.m. and again on Sept. 30 from noon to 4 p.m. Other acts include the German band D’Lustigen Almdudler, Pittsburgh-based Madel Jager, Deutscher Musik Verein of Cleveland and — when you’re not in the mood for German music — the party band Steeltown, Township Road, Tres Lads and Walkin’ Rosie.
And of course the Isartaler dance group will perform, along with others from across the region. Mr. Pater hopes it might entice a few new members.
Ms. Rand acknowledges it’s a bit of a hike to Butler, but organizers wanted a big space that the fest could grow into over time. Besides, “If you go to KeyBank Pavilion in Burgettstown, it’s the same distance,” she says. And it’s not nearly as fun. Tickets cost $12 (ages 18 and up) through Sunday and you also can get a weekend pass for $20. After that, it’s $17. Kids are free. VIP admission ($65) includes dinner in a VIP area, VIP parking, an acrylic beer stein, access to a special area in the biergarten and separate lines at food/beer booths.