It's Jolly Germans Who Love A Lager
Illawarra Mercury
Monday October 12, 1998
At the risk of oversimplifying one of Europe's major economic powers I believe the three leading achievements of the German people are as follows: they build a mean luxury car; they gave the world strudel; and, above all else, they know how to party.
Germans have perfected the art of celebration to the extent of dedicating a whole month to making merry.
They call it Oktoberfest and wherever in the world you find Germans, you will find big parties in the month of October.
Oktoberfest is about clap dancing and lederhosen, beer and bratwurst, singing and sauerkraut, good times and noise ... plenty of noise.
From the oom-pah-pah bands to the singalongs and yodelling, everything at an Oktoberfest is done at decibels.
It remains one of the few public events where men in leather shorts don't rate a second glance!
The first Oktoberfest back in 1810 was held as a festival featuring horse race to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig, of Bavaria.
With a history steeped in horse racing and beer-drinking it's little wonder the concept has been embraced by Australians.
The three days of Wollongong's Oktoberfest, held at the Germania Club at Kembla Grange this weekend, attracted 15,000 visitors.
``Oktoberfest has been going in Wollongong since 1962 and it was popular right from the start," explained Germania Club manager Inge Kujat.
``There is nothing you can compare it to in Australian culture, but it doesn't mean Aussies don't enjoy it too!"
This year's festivities required 50,000 litres of the preferred German brew DAB beer, 500kg of bratwurst sausage and 240kg of potatoes for the potato pancakes.
That's a lot of celebration and it needed 142 volunteers from the Illawarra's German community to run the show.
© 1998 Illawarra Mercury