On the picnic tables located in the middle of Stramler park sat Thomas Meyer, a physics professor at Cal State University Bakersfield and a native German. Meyer, along with other locals, gathered Oct. 2 to partake in the beer drinking and polka dancing festivities featured at the second annual Bakersfield Oktoberfest.
Meyer, who came out to enjoy the festival with his wife, offered some insight into German culture and the traditions of Oktoberfest.
“The Oktoberfest originally was created in Munich, and it’s actually 200 years old,” said Meyer.
Originating with the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese in a meadow in Munich on Oct. 12 1810, the wedding and celebration was so well received that it was celebrated again the following year, eventually becoming a tradition.
Sipping on his beer as he talked, Meyer explained his preferences and a little about the beer being offered at the festival.
“Spaten is a beer from Munich and [is] actually not my favorite,” said Meyer. “I like the pilsner beer more, and they’re better in northern Germany.”
Though a wide range of German beers were featured on tap, Hofbrau’s Orginal Lager, PaulAner’s Salvator DoppelBock, and Spaten’s Oktoberfest brew, Meyer went on to inform that there is a difference in the imports from the ones served in Germany.
“The German beer you get here is not the same one that you would get in Germany,” he said. “It’s an export, and they make it especially for exporting.”
As Meyer talked, women wearing dirndls carried large 1-liter beer sloshing steins, drawing glances from the men as they walked around the event.
“You see [dirndls and lederhosen] more in Southern Germany than Northern Germany,” said Meyer, “and you see it more in the small cities and the villages than in the big cities.”
Polka music was provided throughout the festival by the Raving Polka Band and Anton Schnitzel and The Merry makers, but according to Meyer, there are not that many Germans who like that kind of music. Meyer said, “Germans like rock and techno.”
Throughout the day, the smell of cooking weisswurst and rostbratwurst sausages was present in the air. The lines stayed steady throughout the event as people complemented their hearty beer with just as hearty food.
“It’s pretty good,” said Meyer about the food “The sausage was very nice.”Later in the evening, games took place including a stein endurance-wielding contest hosted by Matt Munoz from Bakotopia Magazine, and a safe beer chugging contest.
All around people could be heard chanting, “Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi,” and when asked if that is something actual done in Germany and just not popularized by The Man Show on Comedy Central, Meyer said, “Yes, they say that,” as he said it to his wife with a smile.