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At Oktoberfest, if you’re not drinking, you’re dancing. If you’re not dancing, then somebody is bound to pull you into a Polka performance, put you in the bier puppet or convince you to sign up for the stein hoisting competition. For Ruth Florey, a performer with the Syracuse Oktoberfest Band and Dance Group, she wouldn’t want it any other way.

“It’s a way to detach from the world and just forget about all of the horrible stuff going on,” Florey said. “You can just have fun.”

This year, the German American Society of Central New York hosted the Syracuse Bavarian Oktoberfest at the New York State Fairgrounds. This has been their biggest annual event for over 60 years, said society member James Heckthorne.

The building was filled from one side to the other with raffles, cornhole, German beer, live music and high spirits. The smell of bratwurst, sauerkraut and Bavarian pretzels filled the atmosphere. At every opportunity, performers encouraged all those in attendance to get up and dance with them. People of all ages enjoyed the event with beaming smiles on their faces.

This year, Oktoberfest partnered with Kelleigh’s Cause — a charity organization devoted to raising awareness for Arteriovenous Malformations (AVMS) and now hosts the Great New York State Marathon — to create an event where participants could go straight from running a race to drinking beer on tap at the German festival.

“After every race, you want a post-race party to celebrate everybody who’s crossing the finish line, especially marathons,” said Kelleigh Gustafson, the President of Kelleigh’s Cause. “We just kind of happened to find each other. We pitched ourselves to (the Society) and they were very excited to do it with us.”

Gustafson’s family started Kelleigh’s Cause to fundraise and educate the community on AVMS. Gustafson, who herself was born with AVMS, was her families’ inspiration for starting the charity in her junior year of high school, when the severity of her disease worsened, and the lack of funding and awareness for AVMS was brought to their attention.

In addition to Kelleigh’s Cause, other nonprofit organizations also sponsored the marathon, such as RefocusALZ, Team RWB, and Soledier Socks, to raise awareness for their causes.

After the marathon, at the festival, patrons could eat traditional German food, indulge in a beer, check out different vendors and participate in many traditional German dances, including the May Dance and Polka dancing.

Nadja Allmann, the Financial Secretary of the German American Society, said the most popular purchase each year is their collectible steins, which a few German Beer mug collectors have been acquiring for years.

“People will ask us if we’re still doing Oktoberfest this year, and if we’re not, then they ask if we’re still selling steins,” Allmann said.

Cassandra Roshu | Staff photographer

The merchandise at Oktoberfest were all traditional to German culture, some having an Americanized twist. Items that are solely recognized in American Oktoberfests include necklaces made out of pretzels and chicken hats, which were handmade by Heckathorne and his wife.

All proceeds from the event go toward scholarships that the German American Society gives to German students every year, said Sally Frenza, the organization’s scholarship chair. After each selection process, they invite the scholarship winners, qualifying applicants and all other local German students to a dinner where acceptance speeches are given in both German and English.

After a pandemic that separated communities, this year’s partnership between Oktoberfest and the Great New York State Marathon produced an event where runners, German culture enthusiasts and everybody in between could come together to support local charitable causes and celebrate the beauty of unity.

“There’s a lot of people who wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Heckathorne said. “They want to go every year.”

Published on October 17, 2022 at 12:22 am