Ober Gatlinburg is celebrating October with a fantastic festival featuring Bavarian-style food, drink and music, but you don’t have to don your finest lederhosen or dirndls to be a part of the fun.
Oktoberfest returns to its Gatlinburg-style roots as the resort commemorates the 200th anniversary of the popular festival held in Munich, Germany with merrymaking on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the month of October.
The Bavarian Fun Makers Band, in authentic costumes, will perform traditional Bavarian folk dances, schuhplattling, oompah music, sing-a-longs, yodels and more with shows at 1, 4 and 6 p.m. every weekend during October.
Special Oktoberfest Biers will be served along with traditional German wurst, schnitzel, sauerkraut, strudel, pretzels and more.
Oktoberfest was a popular event when the Heidelberg Castle operated its restaurant at Ober Gatlinburg in the 1980s, and for some of the Bavarian Fun Makers Band, it will be like coming home as they are part of the original band.
The first Oktoberfest was not really a festival at all, but the public celebration of the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Bavaria on October 17, 1810. Held on a large meadow named the Theresienwiese in Munich, the party featured a horse race, beer, food, music and dancing.
Anniversary celebrations continues each year, usually starting in late September and ending in the first week of October, with some six million people attending annually.
Oktoberfests have been held in Munich for 200 years with the exception of wartime. As immigrants from Germany came to North America, smaller Oktoberfests sprouted up in their communities.
Ober Gatlinburg’s newest attraction is the 4,600 square-foot Amaze’n Maze, which opened on Memorial Day weekend. Adventurers of all ages can sharpen their navigational skills while competing against their family, friends and the clock.
Earlier this spring, Ober Gatlinburg added an indoor carousel to compliment the 120-passenger Aerial Tramway, Wildlife Encounter including the Black Bear Habitat and Birds of Prey Exhibit, ice skating rink, Alpine Slide, scenic chairlift, shops, restaurant and lounge.
This winter, enjoy skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing at the only wintertime ski resort in the State of Tennessee.
For more information call 865-436-5423 or visit www.obergatlinburg.com
