|
|
||
Capital Ale House's second Oktoberfest had twice the space and twice the crowds this year. Date published: 9/19/2010
BY CATHY JETT With a swing of a mighty wooden mallet, Mayor Tom Tomzak kicked off Oktoberfest in downtown Fredericksburg at noon yesterday. He hammered home a tap in the first keg, then handed a stein filled with some of its foaming contents to Evan Judd, a World War II veteran who took part in the Berlin airlift. "Here's to world peace and the closeness of the world," Tomzak said as lively German music played in the background. Closeness was an apt description for the Oktoberfest celebration itself, which was sponsored by Capital Ale House for the second year. The event had been expanded from the 900 block of Caroline Street in 2009 to the 800 and 900 blocks, plus the 100 and 200 blocks of George Street. But more than 10,000 people turned out, about twice as many as last year, estimated Matt Simmons, president of the Richmond-based Capital Ale House chain. Among the participants were friends and polka fans Gloria Spear of Lorton and Darlene Warner of Woodbridge, who donned lacy blouses and dirndl dresses for the occasion and planned to dance to the music of their friend Barbara "Heidi" Perry's band. "I love polka dancing," Spear said. "I'll dance with whoever asks me." Perhaps it was the beautiful weather or the chance to dance, drink and eat German fare, but lines were already snaking down Caroline Street when the festival opened. People waited patiently to buy tickets that they could exchange for beer, beer steins and bratwurst, along with giant pretzels, weisswurst and sausages flavored with the local Blue & Gray Brewing Co.'s Fred Red Ale. Kay West, who drove up from Richmond with five other fans of Capital Ale House's Oktoberfests, took one look at the lines and headed over to Sammy T's for lunch instead. Afterward, they strolled downtown, took in the festival and waited in line only about 10 minutes to buy beer. "We visit all the ones in Richmond, and so we decided to come here," said West, adding that it was only her second visit to the 'Burg. "Fredericksburg is lovely. We'll definitely come back." Simmons said that while lines were long at the beginning, they grew more manageable as the afternoon wore on. He said that Capital Ale had originally planned to have more food vendors, but several fell through at the last minute.
Maybe the puke problem wouldnt have been so bad if FattyJ's hadnt been filling Steins for $5 and letting the customers leave the bar with them! Get all of the facts before you point fingers...
Oktoberfest is a 16- to 18-day festival held each year in
Munich, Bavaria, Germany, running from late September to the
first weekend in October.
Why not have it in october? It is octoberfest right? I would have loved to have gone but i probably assumed it was going to be later...like in october. They should change the name to septemberfest. And wasn't it First Friday's? I don't remember it being final friday's or last friday's. It's not just downtown that needs help, all the small businesses need help. They are getting taxed like crazy imo.
The beer was great at J. Brian's. We can hardly wait for the
909 Saloon to open so we can get $2 PBR's and some Tex-
Mex fare.
was not advertised. They were required to have it but no one knew it was available. Didn't they use to have Final Friday w/music, like the fest, beer & wine, like the fest, activities for the kids, like the fest but then moved it to the awful parking lot on Sophia & wondered (yeah sure) why it failed. Some folks asked what charity would benefit from this fest. I gave them the sad news, Fxbg gave that up w/ the demise Final Fridays.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
