There is no more appropriate setting for an American version of the "Old World" Oktoberfest than Mount Angel, Oregon. The small community was settled by German pioneers in the 1800s and readily reminds one of the rich Bavarian countryside. Oregon's oldest and best-loved Oktoberfest began in 1966 as a traditional harvest festival to celebrate the bounty of the earth and the goodness of creation. It is Oregon's largest folk festival. Beginning the second Thursday after Labor Day, over 350,000 folks from all over the world descend on this village of 3,400 to experience "Oregon's Best Event", a prize awarded the folk festival by the State of Oregon.
We were invited to perform German accordion music each day from 3:30 to 4:30 on The Village Bandstand located in the heart of the festival area. Giant speakers broadcasted the music throughout the 1/2-mile square event area. Besides the outdoor bandstand, there was a full schedule of performers in the Biergarten, Weingarten, Alpengarten and Kindergarten each day. We were one of 26 musical groups from the United States, Canada and Germany.
In early fall, we begin polishing our German music in preparation for Oktoberfest. Last fall, we played at the famous Leavenworth Oktoberfest in Washington State and this year at Mt. Angel's prize-winning festival. Munich, look out!
Both Jim and I grew up in Oregon. In fact, early in my education career, I taught Child Development courses at Mt. Angel College, an all-girls liberal arts institution. The college is within the village but the Abbey is set high above Mt. Angel on a 300-foot bluff. It is a century old monastic community built in 1883 by Swiss Benedictine monks. Views from the bluff include Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams, as well as the lush Willamette Valley farmland. Although the college no longer exists in it's earlier form, it was a wonderful feeling of coming home when we drove into this quaint village surrounded by fields of hops, orchards of apples and vineyards of many varieties of grapes.
New to the festival this year was the Glockenspiel in the town's square. Modeled after the Münich Glockenspiel, each life-sized figure represents an important step in the development of this community. On the hour, as each figure moves into the opening, appropriate music accompanies the movement including Gregorian Chant, Um-pah-pah German music and finally, representing the future of the city, the elementary school children singing Edelweiss. Thousands stood silently the first time the Glockenspiel played during the opening ceremonies. It garnered great applause.
Although the polka was the most popular form of music at Oktoberfest, we also played and sang many traditional German songs including Lorelei, Walzerlieder, Tyrolean and, of course, the Chicken Dance, which gets every audience member immediately on their feet pecking, flapping, swishing and clapping.
We love the spirit of Oktoberfest, which is a culmination of bountiful harvest season and an expression of thankfulness for our rich heritage in the Willamette Valley. The Mt. Angel Oktoberfest website is http://www.oktoberfest.org/