Fremont Oktoberfest 2007

This weekend I was able to once again experience one of my favorite Seattle Festivals – Fremont Oktoberfest. Stewart and I rushed back from Bellingham after attending a wedding Saturday afternoon in order to meet up with some friends and head to Fremont for this completely fabulous annual event.

Once we finally made it through a zoo of traffic and parking conundrums, we made it to Oktoberfest and bought the maximum amount of tokens possible and a souvenir cup. Then we made our way through the masses to the shortest beer line possible. This year’s highlight was the Stranger Microbrew Garden with more than 70 beers – I’m pretty sure I spent most of my time in front of this tent.

Since we were already late, our strategy was simple:

• Move to the front of the line
• Use one token to fill up mini beer stein
• Chug beer in one gulp
• Use another token to fill up second beer stein
• Move to back of line and finish second beer
• Return to the front of the line
• Repeat

The constant flow of great beer into my system plus hanging out with a group of friends was pretty much a completely fabulous way to spend a Saturday night. I never did make it past the initial beer tents and completely missed the main stage, although I vaguely remember hearing some pretty decent music playing in the background. The only negative aspect of Oktoberfest is that it shuts down and stops serving at midnight. Even though I was far from sober, I was nowhere near turning into a pumpkin yet, so we headed up the street to George & Dragon for more brewskies – a fabulous way to end the night.

Apparently, USA Today considers Fremont Oktoberfest one of the Top 10 Oktoberfests in the world, and although it’s the only one I’ve experienced thus far, I’m inclined to believe it. Until next year, cheers!