Good Weather - Check

Baby Sitter - Check

Christian Moerlein - Check

Reds Beat the Cubbies - Check

Surrounded by thousands of drunk bastards - Check

 

My second Oktoberfest and last year I said I wanted to come at night - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

 

As you can see from Cincinnatus' pictures, the people come out at night. What a great f*cking time in the Nati!

 

Oktoberfest Zinzinnati is the largest Oktoberfest in the world outside of Munich. Estimates of over 1 million people downtown before the weekend is up.

 

http://www.oktoberfest-zinzinnati.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Damn I love this city...

Good shots. Crazy time. I went to the Cincinnati Symphony's opener Saturday night. (We got free refrigerator magnets with Paavo Jarvi's pic on them and a free symphony PR promo CD when we arrived and a free piece of chocolate as we left.) It was a great performance too. Then today I went to Oktoberfest in the afternoon and walked down to the riverside parks. The weather was perfect. I am beat though. On Friday I went to the Dayton Art Institute to see the visiting Rau Collection show which is wonderful and then went to the Dayton Philharmonic's opening night Friday night. That too was excellent. Anyone who can't find enough to do in S.W. Ohio is a lazy moron.

Pure chaos. It was great--I found time to go down for a few hours both yesterday and today.

It is a shame that the streets aren't filled like that everyday. Makes me want to go back in time before cars when the streets were filled with people and the stench of slaughtered pigs filled the air.

Great pics Monte. Just back from the Bengal's game. We won . . . but it wasn't pretty. I loved seeing so many people downtown all weekend. A friend and I went to Octoberfest yesterday afternoon and then again today before the game. Thanks again for sharing the photos.

Oktoberfest Zinzinnati + Hofbräuhaus x a few friends from college = one helluva hangover

Actually me and my signifigant other spent the weekend in Cincy for this...checked into the Hyatt on Friday night..dinner at Nicholsons (which is a really neat place, BTW), then the Oktoberfest on Saturday (watched the opening ceremony in the morning....then, off to lunch...crashed a bit, then back out in the afternoon

.....pretty much spent the whole night there. Some pretty good bands, actually, if you are into this kind of music.

 

Also, the Christian Moerlien beer was pretty good. That was my first time trying it...this is a new local brewrey?

 

Sunday was spent at the Underground Railroad museum, then dinner at The Albee restraunt in the Westin, which, given its "ringside seat" on Fountain Square , was a great place to people-watch the Sunday evening Oktoberfest crowd.

 

I was pretty impressed by this turnout, to say the least! Not sure how much of it had to do with the ballgames going on, or if its always this packed.

It's good to hear so many people enjoyed the city this weekend. (I could see it for myself of course, but individual stories are always interesting.)

 

As I was walking around in the crowded streets it did remind me of downtown in the long ago when large crowds and heavy traffic were a much more common occurence, but there have been quite a few of these big gatherings in the past few months. It only takes a reason for people to pluck up courage to come downtown again. One negative thing I noticed was that downtown businesses did not really capitalize on this great opportunity to benefit from all the people swirling around just outside their doors. Lazarus did nothing to get people into the store. Tons of people outside, not that many inside. Likewise, many of the Tower Place stores weren't even open. How incredibly stupid!

^ I agree. Lazarus, (ahem Macy's) did have a weekend sale but they could have had some silly mascot outside trying to sucker people into the downtown store. We did shop at Lazarus last year when my wife still worked for Federated and we got an employee discount.

 

 

Christian Moerlein History from the website:

 

History of the Brewery

 

After opening the brewery in 1853, Christian soon found his beers were awarded the highest honors wherever they were exhibited. Not only in high demand in Cincinnati, they were commonly exported to Europe and South America.

 

Unfortunately, the brewery was not able to survive a dark period of America's history: Prohibition. Honor was restored to Christian in 1981 when his brand was reintroduced to Greater Cincinnati. The updated all-malt Christian Moerlein beer was on the leading edge of the craft beer movement, coming along at a time when the term "microbrew" was not a part of American vocabulary. From the first keg tapped by Christian, to ice cold Select Lager and Select Light enjoyed throughout Cincinnati, Christian Moerlein beers continue to follow the strict Reinheitsgebot Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. True to the law since Christian was the brew master, the beer only contains four ingredients: malted barley, hops, water and yeast.

 

 

Here is the website, you can even play "cornhole" on the website.

 

http://www.christianmoerlein.com

 

The beer was recently bought back by a Cincinnati group and the goal from what I understand is to brew it here again. Although it is owned by a Cincinnati group it is still brewed in Fredrick, Maryland.

 

BTW, how about the Bengals win last night? It wasn't pretty but they got the win.

damn my city sucks! get me outta here. get me back to cincinnati.

Here is a shot of Fountain Square during the chicken dance on Sunday from the Enquirer:

 

 

Article from the Post:

 

Weekend events lure 750,000 people downtown

 

Post staff report

 

Chris Noloc, decked out in a chicken hat and a "Cincinnati, Where Pigs Fly" T-shirt, surveyed a festive crowd under postcard-blue skies and pronounced Cincinnati's big weekend an absolute success.

 

"I think it's one of the smoothest operations I've ever seen," Noloc, of Blue Ash, said Sunday at Oktoberfest, just one of numerous events that attracted an estimated 750,000 people to downtown.

 

"Cincinnati is a fantastic place to be able to do things," observed Noloc. "I just wonder why everything's on one weekend. Maybe things should be spread out a bit."

 

By happenstance of various schedules, all kinds of things came together over the weekend, and Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce officials decided to make it one big party.

 

They called it "Fusion Weekend" to celebrate the confluence of Oktoberfest, Reds' games, the Bengals' sold-out nationally televised home opener, the Ohio Classic college football game and a myriad of musical events ranging from the Cincinnati Symphony's season debut to a Van Halen rock concert.

 

And Mother Nature provided a perfect backdrop -- sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70s both days.

 

"I don't know how it could be any better," proclaimed John Schardong of Hyde Park, hoisting a Christian Morelein beer.

 

The weekend's economic impact was estimated by the University of Cincinnati Economics Center to be $72.7 million.

 

"I'm hard pressed to think of any Cincinnati weekend bigger than this one," said Ray "Buzz" Buse of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.

 

"Fusion is not an illusion. People are really coming together, and the energy is terrific. Everybody seems to be having a great time."

 

Buse said he was especially impressed by the comments from Cubs fans down from Chicago for the weekend series against the Reds.

 

"They said they were in awe that Cincinnati has this great party going on right in the heart of the city," he said. "Chicago or New York would be hard pressed to do these kinds of things in the heart of the city.

 

"Cincinnati is unique in that we have these big events and people still get around easily. This weekend puts an exclamation point on all of Cincinnati's positives."

 

Police reported no major problems as an estimated 500,000 folks attended the Oktoberfest street fair, 140,000 baseball fans turned out for the Reds-Cubs four-game series, 65,000 football fanatics cheered for the Bengals and 35,000 attended the Ohio Classic college football game between Grambling and Bethune-Cookman.

 

Oktoberfest grand marshal Vince Neil, lead vocalist for the rock group Motley Crue, led the traditional World's Largest Chicken Dance from the stage at Fountain Square on Sunday.

 

The Reds-Cubs series was highlighted by Saturday night's tribute to Joe Nuxhall for his 61 years as a Reds' player, broadcaster and unofficial goodwill ambassador.

 

Paul Brown Stadium was the site of Saturday afternoon's Ohio Classic, which featured a terrific game in which Grambling rallied to edge Bethune-Cookman 24-23 and pulse-pounding performances by the college bands.

 

The big weekend climaxed back at Paul Brown Stadium with the Bengals and Miami Dolphins entertaining a sold-out crowd and a national television audience on ESPN.

 

From German polka bands to high-stepping college bands to Bootsy Collins' rocking band, it was, as advertised, a "fusion weekend."

 

"It's been a diverse weekend -- a weekend that shows Cincinnati is moving forward," said Buse. "Cincinnati is gaining quite a bit of positive momentum.

 

"The great thing is, 750,000 happy people came to Cincinnati and enjoyed themselves. I don't think anybody went home disappointed."

 

http://www.cincypost.com/2004/09/20/week092004.html

I figured with Oktoberfest Zinzinnati right around the corner...I would bump this thread to get us all back in the mood for some good ol' German fun in the 'nati!

What day is it on Randy?

To keep you up to date here is a site:

http://www.oktoberfest-zinzinnati.com/

 

-its on the weekend of Sept. 16th

CJ-85 is leading the chicken dance this year

They called it "Fusion Weekend" to celebrate the confluence of Oktoberfest, Reds' games, the Bengals' sold-out nationally televised home opener, the Ohio Classic college football game and a myriad of musical events ranging from the Cincinnati Symphony's season debut to a Van Halen rock concert.

 

They should have gotten Eddie Van Halen to lead the Chicken Dance back then. He'd be so drunk.