By Tara DeMuth
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Across a large crowd in downtown Fort Collins, a woman wears bright traditional German garb while she claps to authentic Bavarian music. Her husband, nearby, sips his beer as the smiling couple celebrates their German heritage at the Oktoberfest.
From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11, students, families and seniors came to the heart of Old Town to participate in the festivities of the Oktoberfest. Throughout the day, patrons celebrated the German culture with brats, beer, music and traditional Bavarian dance.
An event established over two decades ago, the Fort Collins Oktoberfest was founded by the Eye-Opening Kiwanis Club and was later taken over by the Fort Collins Downtown Business Association in 2007. This year, in order to keep the Oktoberfest and the first home CSU football game separate, the Oktoberfest was held a few weeks early. Yet, the turnout was not affected, as locals and others traveled to attend the Oktoberfest.
Dan and Vicky Ferber, a couple who traveled from Rapid City, South Dakota, to celebrate their German heritage, were just two of the patrons that came to the streets of Fort Collins. Though the pair have frequented the original Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, four times, they still felt the Fort Collins’ festival offered something special.
“It’s festive and fun and the weather is absolutely gorgeous,” said Vicky Ferber. “It’s a nice crowd.”
A local man, Charles Propp, felt similarly of his experience at the Oktoberfest, referring to the atmosphere as “congenial and pleasant.”
Propp, an elderly man who attended the celebration with his wife, is a first generation American after his parents emigrated from Russia to work with sugar beets. After moving from Windsor to work at the Budweiser plant, in 1941, Propp attended the event every year possible. Along with Propp, the local Oktoberfest is an important event for many in the Fort Collins area.
“This is a great cultural event that resonates with our community,” said Peggy Lyle, the event director for the Fort Collins Business Association. “There are a lot of citizens of Bavarian heritage in Northern Colorado and of course Fort Collins loves festivals and great brews.”
Propp’s story of coming to Colorado, after his German parents immigrated, is a similar story for many in the crowd and on the stage. The Denver Kickers Sport Club, located in Golden, was formed after Heidi Urie’s father came to America and sought to preserve German heritage through Bavarian dance.
Urie, the current owner of the Denver Kickers, learned to dance from her father at age 3 and took over the club after her father retired some 15 years ago. Today, the dance group remains family based, as 99 percent are related.
“Cousins, spouses, sons and daughters participate,” said Urie. “It’s a fun great time and we get to do it as a family.”
As established by her father, Urie strives to continue to preserve her and other’s German heritage.
Traditional Bavarian dance is a “part of my heritage and that’s a part of me that I want to pass down,” said Urie.
Now their fifth year performing at the Fort Collins Oktoberfest, the dance group is a popular attraction for the event. The dance, “Schuhplatter,” which literally means shoe-slapping, draws crowds as the performers hit their shoes and create a beat that is echoed throughout the clapping audience.
“They are highly professional, entertaining, authentic, and just simply the nicest group of people to work with,” said Lyle.
At the end of the day, smiling spectators and Vicky Ferber, who continued to tap her feet to the music, had the opportunity to dance with the Denver Kickers. With the dancing, traditional food and festive crowd, patrons in Old Town, experienced, first hand, the cultural and celebratory atmosphere of a traditional Oktoberfest.
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