Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest 2024 in St. Charles

Yesterday we went to Oktoberfest in St. Charles, MO, for the second time. It has quickly become our favorite local Oktoberfest, so it’s kind of hard to believe 2023 was our first visit!

I go to Oktoberfest for three things…German music:

German dancing:

And German food…in this case pretzels!

I also love to just take the event in…and do a little window shopping. It’s a miracle I left without adding another dirndl to my closet!

Speaking of dirndls, this was the first Oktoberfest Ladybug got to wear her dirndl to…it was fun dressing up with somebody!

It was super muddy from the hurricane Helene remnants that hit our area all day yesterday, but an otherwise beautiful day…mostly cloudy, breezy, and not at all hot!

I’m really glad we found this event, because I think it’s pretty much as close as you can get to Munich without leaving the midwest!

Tasty Tuesday–Oktoberfest in July

It’s been quite a few years since we last had a German feast for the Fourth of July, so that’s exactly what we did last week. The menu was somewhat different…this time around, we made all of our Oktoberfest favorites, starting with pretzels:

And pretzels call for fondue for lunch, which I served with pickles and brats as well:

The main course was schnitzel:

I served it with family favorites such as spaetzle, red cabbage, pickled beets, and sauerkraut:

It’s one of my favorite dinners, no matter what time of year it is!

The real star of the feast in my opinion, though, was the dessert. I decided to deconstruct the components of my Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte recipe, and serve Black Forest sundaes. They were so delicious, and I’m pretty proud of my culinary creativity!

It’s fun to plan an unexpected meal for a holiday every now and again!

Sartorial Saturday–The Top Five Dirndl Looks of 2023

I know I said yesterday that I was sharing my last “Top Five” photos list of the year, but those were photos I took…today I’m sharing my favorite dirndl looks that I wore this year, which are photos take of me, not by me!

I’m starting back in May, when we went to Maifest at Grant’s Farm. I really love the pops of pink of the apron and ribbon against the darker background of the dress, and I also really love the setting of the picture!

My second Everyday Dirndl was purchased specifically with paying homage to the Austrian flag in mind, and the full look is even better than I hoped. I love the white “Surprise Me” apron Erika created for me, and I think my accessories, which featured lots of edelweiss and pops of white and red, are the perfect accompaniment!

Next up is the look I wore to Belleville Oktoberfest. I borrowed an apron from another dirndl to go with my purple dress, and added my iridescent Docs and some purple accessories to complete the look.

Speaking of borrowing an apron, this is the dress that goes with the apron in the previous photo. This time, I added a fancy, sheer floral apron to my harlequin print dirndl for St. Charles Oktoberfest…I love the autumnal color scheme!

And finally, a look featuring my new Christmas apron. Not the look I wore on Christmas Day (which I also love), but the one I wore to the Belleville Christkindlmarkt, adding a green ribbon and red accessories for a festive look.

I really love finding new ways to mix and match my pieces, and I can’t wait to see what I come up with next!

Family Oktoberfest 2023

Today I finally got around to preparing our annual family Oktoberfest! Of course I had to wear a dirndl…I think I wore five of my six dresses to various Oktoberfests this year!

I didn’t make fondue this year, but I did make pretzels, and I even experimented with making a few larger ones. I need to work on rolling them out a bit thinner, but they were good!

Of course I had to celebrate in Animal Crossing, too:

I made our favorites for dinner…Schnitzel (which at this point, I think I’ve perfected!), spaetzle, and rotkohl. I still haven’t been brave enough to make sauerkraut from scratch, so that was store-bought. I did make Jäger sauce this year, though!

Yes, our house smells like a German restaurant!

For dessert, I made our favorite Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte…I wouldn’t dare make something else!

This is always a delicious day!

Sartorial Saturday–Oktoberfest 2023

Time for a look back at the outfits I wore to various Oktoberfest celebrations this year! I attended a record four Oktoberfests, which means I got to wear 2/3 of the dirndls in my wardrobe. I wore my very first dress from Rare Dirndl to Belleville’s Oktoberfest, but with a fairly new apron:

I wore one of my newest dirndls to St. Charles Oktoberfest, but I again switched out the apron:

I decided to go for a lot of color at Zootoberfest at the St. Louis Zoo:

And I paired my new “Surprise Me” apron with one of my oldest dirndls at Oktoberfest at Das Bevo:

Looking back at the places I went, I can say that Belleville’s Oktoberfest is still the most disappointing to me, while St. Charles is the biggest and best. Surprisingly, though, the zoo had the best pretzels!

St. Charles might have the best Oktoberfest, but you just can’t beat the setting of Das Bevo. It was the smallest one I attended, but just look at that gorgeous building and fun tent!

I’ll leave you with everyone’s favorite call for a toast!

Chickadee Thursday

We went to St. Charles Oktoberfest for the first time, and it was so much fun…Chickadee especially loved seeing all of the dachshunds that were there for the “Wiener Takes All” Wiener Dog Derby!

St. Charles Oktoberfest

Yesterday we went to St. Charles Oktoberfest for the first time, and it was so much fun! I really loved the location at Frontier Park right on the banks of the Missouri River…it’s the perfect place for a festival!

There were lots of tents, and we got to hear several bands:

There were also German dancers, which I absolutely loved!

The dancers were from the German Cultural Society of St. Louis, and they also had a booth where they were selling cookbooks (I added one to my extensive cookbook collection) and Schwarzwälderkirsch Cupcakes (very tasty!).

Speaking of food…is it even Oktoberfest if you don’t have a pretzel?!? We also tried the schnitzel sandwich, which was served open-faced on rye bread with sauerkraut and mustard…so delicious!

We didn’t get to see the “Wiener Takes All” dog derby, but we did see tons of dachshunds everywhere we went!

And we weren’t there for the glockenspiel performance, but it was cool to get to see the clock!

With apologies to Belleville, this was the best Oktoberfest I’ve been to!

It was almost everything I hoped for in an Oktoberfest…lots of people, lots of tents, German music and dancing, German food, and even places to buy various German items. I think if I want to get my souvenir clothespin, a beautifully decorated Lebkuchenherzen, and a Steckerlfisch, I’m just going to have to plan a trip to Munich, though!