Oktoberfest Sparkles in Square

The smell of hot sausage and the sight of performers in traditional German garb were just two of the many attractions found yesterday at the ninth annual Harvard Square Oktoberfest.

Despite Sunday's rain and yesterday's bitter cold weather, the Square was crowded with over 6500 enthusiastic festival participants from the Harvard-Cambridge community as well as other parts of the Northeastern seaboard.

The event was organized jointly by the Harvard Square Business Association (HSBA), and a new sponsor, the Clausthaler Corporation, which is the leading German manufacturer of non-alcoholic beverages. HSBA Executive Director Sally Alcorn said the decision to work with Clausthaler was part of the association's effort to make the Oktoberfest in the Square a non-alcoholic "October fair."

The original Oktoberfest, held in Munich in 1810, was a horse race celebrating the marriage between King Louis I and Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. In the following years it developed into a two-week fair, ending on the first Sunday in October, with booths serving food and drink. Today these booths in Germany serve more than 1,175,000 gallons of beer annually.

Some participants said Cambridge's version of the event had changed in translation, while others, like Lola M. Matysiak, a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said it made them "think of things like German Knockwurst, German ethnic things, and Chevy Chase in [National Lampoon's] European Vacation."

For Edgar C. Thompson, owner of The Llama Shop, a sweater store, "The Oktoberfest is an international festivity for every color, creed, and race." Close by the lederhosen and sauerbrauten in Harvard Square were Mexican, Indian, and Italian booths selling jewelry, food and clothing, native to their countries.

Other vendors saw the Oktoberfest solely as a chance to make money. Michael Jordan, who ran the exotic Indian accessory booth, said "We are here to make money. The Oktoberfest itself has little significance. It could actually be characterized as totally irrelevant."

Few of the people interviewed yesterday were aware that the Harvard Square Oktoberfest was a non-alcoholic one. Most of the people saw the Oktoberfest in the Square as a chance to imbibe spirits.

"I'm looking for the beer," said Bostonian Michael O. McDermott. Asked what the Oktoberfest meant to her, Dorothy H. Rowe '88 replied, "Beer and Italian Sausage."

The Hofbrau Boys Bavarian Band, which played traditional German folk songs, encouraging the audience to sing along and dance. Other attractions were kiddie rides, street musicians and jugglers. There was even an authentic 1926 player piano which, upon the audience's request, played old favorites such as "Rhapsody in Blue" from piano rolls.

Alcorn of the HSBA said that the Oktoberfest holds a special significance for her. "It is the very first festival I ran four years ago, when I joined the Harvard Square Business Association. Therefore I feel very attached to it," she said.