How to Improve the Oktoberfest Celebration at LSL
 

Perhaps it was better at Spanish Springs but the Oktoberfest Celebration at LSL this year was pretty poor in my mind. Maybe others have some ideas on how the event (and other ethnic celebrations) can be improved next year.

- get vendors to offer a better variety of ethnic food (there were just 2 vendors with anything remotely German and they both offered Bratwurst) and sauerkraut
- how about schnitzel, currywurst, Schwenkbraten (German pork steaks), kase spaetzle, ****offelbrei (mashed potatoes), and Rote Grütze
- hand out words to the favorite German drinking songs and cheers
- on cooler days, Glühwein would be a big hit
- sell a small glass on a strap that goes around your neck and hold a Wein probieren where people get to taste a different wine (at no additional cost) at each corner of the square
- polka dancing instruction

Food for thought...

Events
 

Good ideas.

It's going to get worse. All the residents will gravitate to the square that has the parade and the other square will become less popular. The vendors will not want to set up if all the residents are at the other square.

Entertainment Dept. is making a big mistake having only one parade. There are plenty of clubs that want to participate, but the E.D. saves by having 1/2 the staff for each event and moving the parade to 4 PM. At SSTS they rented the street to an auto dealer to display his new cars. It's getting to be a big infomercial.

Skip

We went to Spanish first, for the parade. We hung around for a couple hours and there was quite a lot of activity [and people] there. About 7:00, we headed back over to LSL. Even though there were still folks on the square, the vibe was totally different...much more subdued. The music has a bit to do with that too....they had a good "capella" band in SS. ..and the drinking songs were frequent and had participation.

As for the food, I think you'll need to head back to Munich for the real Oktoberfest. SS had food, but mostly brats. However, they did have some very greasy k@rtoffel puffers (potato pancakes).

All in all, we enjoyed it....

Tschuss....

PS: We just moved back from Kiel, Germany. Where were you in Germany?

Maybe LSL was more subdued because so many folks went home during the power failure? :shrug:

I'm not sure Phillips "rented" the space. If you look at the Octoberfest ad, the parade was SPONCERED by Phillips. I may be wrong but I think reading between those lines means Phillips picked up the cost for the insurance for the parade. The ad for Italianfest read the same way.
Yes the staff is definately reduced but hardly enough to make much of a budget difference.
It'll be interesting to see how St Patricks is handled. Because of the population in TV at the time, that holiday draws the biggest crowds I've seen over my 5 years. If you don't get to the squares 2-3 hours before the parade you will have a very hard time finding a good spot. Four years ago I went to SS about 3 for the 4pm parade and parking was out of signt. Had I stayed I would have had to park half way between Publix and WinnDixie in La Plaza Grande.
I think insurance is the big reason for only 1 parade.
:Screen_of_Death:

Rumor
 

At last years St. Pats parade I overheard some of the event staffers talking about Polo Grounds being used for future events due to the overparking and lack of parking during these big events. Guess it would be similat to the Christmas parade. We'll see how the Chili cookoff works out because from what I heard that's at the Polo grounds this year.

It should be held in September like they do in Germany.

if somebody had half a brain and instituted the use of the villages trolleys to take folks from and back to the parking areas, there would not have to be the parking hassle that exists when special events are run in the squares!

Ja. Is that spelled right?

You spelt it good :a20:

How much more positive your post would have been if it read "what a great idea it would be to have the trolley transport people back and forth to the parking areas" instead of reading, "if someone had half a brain."

you are absolutely RIGHT! and it would have been easier to post it that way if myself and others had not been making the same suggestion for several years and been told, "that's a great idea! we'll look into it."!

why do the suggestion takers ask for my name, address and phone number and never get back to me much less implement such a good idea?

We met friends early and left around 8, at LSL, there was nothing going on at all. They did loose electricity for a while. The band was so so, no parade. The vendor for german food ran out of brats, no variety in german food either.The normal vendors were not even there.:rant-rave: We ended up getting a hamburger at City Fire. Really no reason to be there, absolutely nothing to hold people there. Last year was nothing like this one. What are the "powers of be" doing?

SS parade goo, but...
 

Enjoyed the parade but after could not get a drink or food for along time. Two extra bars didn't put much of a dent in the lines.
It's also disappointing to see the logos for all of those fine German brews in the parade and getting stuck with a Bud Light or something similar at the square.

We were at SS for the parade, but afterwards, it was so busy, you couldn't even get near the entertainment. We have a person in a wheelchair in our family, and it was impossible to get through anywhere. I saw several other people in scooters that couldn't get food, or drink or a place to simply enjoy the entertainment.

We went to LSL, but as the other posters stated, there was very little food there. The band inside the tent set up near the lake was very good, but we were afraid to go inside,because I thought we needed to buy tickets or something. Also, impossible to push a wheelchair through the grass anway.

All in all, I think it could have been more organized.....