Bend Oktoberfest 2009
In what has become an annual tradition, the Bend Oktoberfest is back again this month, on September 25th and 26th (Friday night and all day Saturday). A portion of Downtown Bend will be closed off for the autumn festival.
Friday night starts at 6pm and is for 21 and over only, ending at 10. Saturday starts at noon and until 6 is all ages, and then from 6 until 10 again is 21 and over.
Admission is free—though food and drink will cost you, of course. This is the first year that the admission is free—my past blogs on the event (back to 2006) list an admission price—so that’s a good sign!
So what to expect? Well, aside from the usual bounty of Oktoberfest beer and German food, there will be live music and dancing, yodeling contests, wiener dog races, activities for kids like puppet shows and face painting, and more.
Most intriguing (odd?) are the wiener dog races; their free to anyone who wants to enter though it’ll cost $10 per dog. I don’t remember them being a part of the original Oktoberfest tradition, but here they benefit the Humane Society of Central Oregon. You can print out the registration form from the site.
Thank you for letting people know about our great event. We’re hoping for a very successful fundraiser for downtown this weekend.
Beer, brats and babes. What more could you ask for? Well how about the fantastic weather, fabulous backdrop of the mountains, beautifully maintained city streets, charming architecture and a free funtastic event!!! I know there’s other city’s around the globe that have this type of events but…. bend has that fantastic small town atmosphere and charm. Ya gota love it.
It was not as good as all the past years. There was not the variety of food, not enough beer booths and even the entertainment was not as good.