Last evening we headed over to Roughtail Brewing in far north OKC to attend their Oktoberfest event, circus tent, oompah bands, stein hoists and seasonal appropriate beer and all. Pretty fun. My wife just happened into this event, mainly because she saw the tent and stopped in to ask about it. I haven't seen any notices about these annual fall celebrations. Now that Old Germany restaurant in Choctaw is gone, so is their annual event. This got me thinking back to the local Oktoberfest events that I used to attend in OKC. I moved to this area in 1980 and I seem to remember a pretty large celebration in downtown OKC, just like the annual arts festival, one block of North Hudson Avenue was restricted to pedestrian traffic and the event spanned that block, large tents, German bands, German food and beer. It seems like that lasted for a few years but then it got smaller. It moved to a section of the NW side of The Myriad, on the sidewalk. Then it disappeared ... Maybe an attempt at the Zoo or Frontier City. And then Mike Turek hosted it at his Old Germany Restaurant in Choctaw. As it grew larger it expanded into his parking lot and then eventually into the city park nearby, a truly huge event. And then it stopped when he closed the restaurant. Nothing for a few years until this weekend. My wife remembers none of this. Do any of you share these memories of German festivals gone by ? Oh, and Prost !

In the name of true diversity, I agree, we need a large Octoberfest. Along with that other ethnic fests, such as Asia fests, Hispanic, Czech and others. Lets celebrate our different ethnic traditions and share them. Other cities have them, as we get more diversity then lets enjoy. I do like to go to the Greek, and Ethiopian ones too.

You all should come up the turnpike and check out Tulsa’s this week. Though I haven’t been able to confirm it anywhere, supposedly it’s one of the larger ones in the country. Went to the Choctaw one a few times back when it was still going on and the Tulsa one seemed at least 3 to 4 times the size of that one so if you had fun there, you should definitely give this one a shot.

Was always surprised there wasn’t a bigger one in OKC.

https://tulsaoktoberfest.org/

^ Thanks for the heads up. I bought my tickets and hotel today.

^ Thanks for the heads up. I bought my tickets and hotel today.

Anytime! Glad you were able to plan a trip! I went for Corporate night yesterday and it was awesome. I think you'll be impressed, it's a pretty awesome set up! Planning to be back Friday and possibly Saturday!

What hotel did you end up in? They have shuttles running all over town taking people to it this year since the onsite parking was eliminated by construction.

I have memories of the German fest with my dad. Eating, listening to music and a lot of beer was flowing.

This year I went to Brewtoberfest in Norman. All the local breweries got together and did beer, polka music and a stein holding contest. It was absolutely packed and they are moving to a bigger venue next year. I think people are interested!

Anytime! Glad you were able to plan a trip! I went for Corporate night yesterday and it was awesome. I think you'll be impressed, it's a pretty awesome set up! Planning to be back Friday and possibly Saturday!

What hotel did you end up in? They have shuttles running all over town taking people to it this year since the onsite parking was eliminated by construction.
I managed to snag a room at RIVERWIND.

I managed to snag a room at RIVERWIND.

You mean River Spirit?

You mean River Spirit?
Yes River Spirit. My bad. The Octoberfest was a blast. We'll be back for the weekend next year. Highly recommended.

https://fb.watch/8TeRK3pjPr/
Yes River Spirit. My bad. The Octoberfest was a blast. We'll be back for the weekend next year. Highly recommended.

Glad you enjoyed it and made it there before they started running out of beer on Saturday! I went Wednesday and Friday then tried to go back on Saturday at around 10:00 but heard all the beer lines were packed and the beer was running low so we opted to stay downtown.

This was probably the biggest year in the history of the event. They broke the all time beer sales record on Corporate Night (Wednesday) which is the slowest night of the week, then broke it again Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Just an awesome and crazy weekend. A friend of mine actually ended up proposing there in front of the clock tower lol.



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https://fb.watch/8TeYVcsxfY/

I don't know anything about organizing giant festivals, but I would definitely be interested in helping get an Oktoberfest set up in OKC in any way I could hah.

I don't know anything about organizing giant festivals, but I would definitely be interested in helping get an Oktoberfest set up in OKC in any way I could hah.

if I hadn’t moved to Tulsa I would’ve loved to help you. I bet you could find a group of people that was interested enough to make it happen.