I suppose I’ll begin with a disclaimer, and that is this: the Cotati Oktoberfest – as well as any other local one I’ve been to – is a very bastardized and American take on a long-standing German traditional celebration. In short, it has been appropriated, so that it is far from similar to the real thing. That said, one can’t help but admire at how well a place as small as Cotati does Oktoberfest. The park was taken over by a giant tent and rows of tables covered in the Bavarian blue and white checkered pattern. An authentically-dressed band(the Karl Lebherz Band) played plenty of German tunes and didn’t hesitate to include such non-German standards at the Funky Chicken Dance and the Hokey Pokey either. Sally Tomatoes catered with lots of meat and potato salad(and other non-vegan-y foods I unfortunately couldn’t try), and there was also a table with pretzels! Lagunitas served four or five varieties of beer(including an Oktoberfest Ale) and there was root beer on hand for those who aren’t of age. Additionally, there were plenty of competitions: the beer stein race, the wiener dog race, costume competitions and more. Thankfully, the weather was more than cooperative and that made for an amazingly beautiful day, full of friends, food and good beer. Plus there was plenty of awesome people watching(not only on the dance floor, but also if you were lucky enough to catch me dancing on the corner wearing a German hat and swinging steins around). I arrived expecting to have a pretty good time, and left having had an ausgezeichnet time. So props to the Cotati Chamber of Commerce for putting together a great, fun-filled, German-influenced day.
