Oktoberfest to be held Oct. 22

Oktoberfest to be held Oct. 22

Beth McCandry

The first Oktoberfest in Wytheville promises a day of German music, food and fun.

The free, family friendly event will be held Saturday, Oct. 22, from 11 am to 4 pm at the Homestead Museum site at 1125 Tazewell Street. There will be food, beer and drinks available for purchase. The event was originally planned for Oct. 1, but was moved to Oct. 22 because of impending rainy weather associated with Hurricane Ian.

“We are excited to host this first Oktoberfest event and thanks to the generous sponsorship of Joseph Hand Jr. of REMAX Landmark Real Estate, we will not be charging admission,” said Frances Emerson, director of museums for the Town of Wytheville Department of Museums . “This will be a day of music, food and fun for the entire family.”

The Sauerkraut Band, a regional band known for performing authentic German style music in traditional Bavarian style clothing, will be on stage from noon to 3 pm The band plays lots of marches, polkas and waltzes.

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“We try to get the audience engaged and involved in what we do,” said band member Susan Sanders. “We march around, and we will go out and try to get everybody out of their seats and form a long line to snake around while the band is playing. We try to get people up to polka. We also have a table full of cow bells of different sizes that we make music with. I think people really have a good time. And there’s the chicken dance, of course. The chicken dance is very popular, especially with the kids.”

German food will be provided for purchase from Wytheville’s Matterhorn Restaurant and Biergarten. Also available for purchase will be beer, provided by 7 Dogs Brew Pub, as well as bottled water and a refreshing non-alcoholic drink called apple spritzer.

Children’s activities will include painting fractures, documents created by using a particular German style of lettering. Also scheduled are historic trade demonstrations in gunsmithing, blacksmithing and weaving, as well as contests for adults and children.

“We are looking forward to giving attendees the opportunity to visit our Homestead Museum property and hope they will come back for tours when the facility is open to the public in the near future,” added Emerson.

The Oktoberfest celebration was the brainchild of Michael Gillman, manager of historic sites and Homestead Museum operations.

With Wythe County’s rich culture and German heritage from early settlers, the Homestead is a great place for an Octoberfest celebration, Gillman said.

“Oktoberfest is a rich tradition in German culture, much like Wythe County is rich in Germanic traditions after the early German settlers started to arrive in the 1770s. What better way to celebrate Wythe County’s Germanic past, than with an Oktoberfest celebration at the Homestead Museum, where several early structures from our German settlers can be seen.”

Gillman said that the 1803 Umberger cabin on the Homestead property displays an old-world Germanic floor plan. The log barn is from the Snider family of Smyth County (three other barns in the same style exist on other early German settler farms in Wythe County). The barn dates to 1780-1820. The smokehouse is original to the site but was built by the William Huffard family, another early German family. The child’s cabin on the Homestead site is from an old Sharitz farm.

“Early Germans in Wythe County brought the traditions of painted blanket chests, fractures (birth certificates), and decorative tombstones,” Gilman said. “These traditions can still be found today throughout Wytheville and western Wythe County. Many of the early families spoke German in the household until the 20th century and kept many German folklore stories alive through generations.”

The Oktoberfest presenting sponsor is Joseph Hand, Jr. owner/broker REMAX Landmark Real Estate and sponsor of children’s activities is Jennifer Walters State Farm Insurance.

Parking will be adjacent to the Wytheville Visitors Center at 975 Tazewell Street.

For more information, call (276) 223-3330 or email [email protected].

To reach reporter Millie Rothrock, call 276-228-6611, ext. 573, or email [email protected]