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Celebrating Wisconsin's Beer Bests
Oktoberfest USA
LA CROSSE The truly dedicated festivalgoers, the ones who take vacation time for this kickoff event, will greet noontime with beer in hand. They're assembling now, clad in Packers gear, Mardi Gras-style plastic beads and buttons featuring festival royalty past and present. Many wear a single, fingerless, official Oktoberfest glove to shield their drinking hands from cold weather and frosty brews. Grill smoke heightens anticipation. This is Wisconsin. The relationship between beer and brats is so cozy that the promise of one bolsters a taste for the other.
At 11 a.m., the outgoing Festmaster takes the Garden Stage. The Golden Keg sits before him. After speeches and royalty introductions, the moment arrives.
"Have a great time and be safe," he says. "Now, let's tap this baby and get the party going!" The crowd cheers and lifts waiting mugs skyward. Oktoberfest has begun.
It's an annual party, a tradition born in 1961 with civic leaders in search of a town get-together. Two Germanborn employees of the southwestern Wisconsin town's G. Heileman Brewing Company suggested something like the Munich Oktoberfest in their home country. The idea went over big. Today, about 150,000 people-three times the college town's population-listen to bands, eat German foods, drink beer and otherwise celebrate fall during the nine-day event, starting September 30 this year. It's one of the largest Oktoberfests in the Midwest.
G. Heileman is still involved, in a sense. After threat of corporate closure, community members bought the brewery in 1999, preserving jobs and history. Now it's City Brewery, which unveils Festbier for this occasion.
Imbibing aside, a big draw is the three-hour, 175-unit Maple Leaf Parade, with marching bands and festival royalty in lederhosen and peasant dresses. People leave weighted tarps and lawn chairs roadside to secure spots long before the parade's Saturday morning start time.
People who do this before midnight on Friday are actually fined. But there is one loophole: sit in your spot. Sallie Hauser chooses this route. She's one of the diehards in lawn chairs 24 hours before the first float passes. Friends join her throughout the day, and they grill and hang out, making it a place-saving party until they're free-and the spot is safe-at midnight. "For the most part, the whole city comes to the parade," Sallie says. "It's an excuse for everybody to get together."
It's also one more custom, built around a history of brewing tradition, during La Crosse's annual party.
