{"id":3242,"date":"2014-09-28T18:42:13","date_gmt":"2014-09-28T23:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=3242"},"modified":"2014-09-28T18:42:13","modified_gmt":"2014-09-28T23:42:13","slug":"oktoberfest-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=3242","title":{"rendered":"Oktoberfest this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wasn\u2019t planning to blog about last night, but we had a really great time at the First Annual Rauetoberfest.\u00a0 The Raue Theater in downtown Crystal Lake offers a wide variety of entertainment for different occasions.\u00a0 We normally attend the Make Your Messiah event in December.\u00a0 You bring your songbook and can become part of the choir performing Handel\u2019s Messiah from your seat.\u00a0 If you love choir music, there is the ultimate.<\/p>\n

Last week, I received an email from Raue about their first ever Oktoberfest event that would be held on September 26 and 27 in downtown Crystal Lake.\u00a0 We have been looking for Oktoberfest events since the DANKE Society stopped holding theirs in South Elgin.\u00a0 That was sad to see them close up their event.\u00a0 However, there weren\u2019t enough young members to carry it on.\u00a0 We\u2019ve gone to some other events, but they just weren\u2019t the same atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Then I noticed later in the week that a former colleague and his band were playing at the Rauetoberfest.\u00a0 It would be an opportunity to see Mike and his band and see how this Oktoberfest was.\u00a0 Being the first one, it meant there was a chance it was slow and not up to par with what we expected.\u00a0 It did have the advantage of being really close to home though.<\/p>\n

I let Rick decide if he wanted to go with us.\u00a0 However, his attendance meant that I could have a beer as well.\u00a0 I only have a couple of more months to abuse this privilege before he leaves for Michigan.\u00a0 He finally relented and agreed to be the Designated Driver of the evening.<\/p>\n

We arrived in downtown Crystal Lake about 5:00 PM.\u00a0 Mike\u2019s band, What About This, was starting at 5:30.\u00a0 There would be time to scope out things.\u00a0 I thought the event was behind the theater, but I was wrong.\u00a0 I turned out to be just up the road from the downtown area.\u00a0 There is an industrial site that is currently closed.\u00a0 This was the real location.\u00a0 Rich and I walked over while Rick went back to move the car over to the parking lot on site.<\/p>\n

As we walked up, we could hear cowbells ringing.\u00a0 Now what did that mean?\u00a0 There was a German band on stage along with a tuba player and an accordion player.\u00a0 This had definite prospects of being at least good German music.\u00a0 There was a pretty good crowd hanging out under the blue and white tent.\u00a0 Blue and white!\u00a0 Bavarian colors!\u00a0 There was another good sign.<\/p>\n

As we were waiting for Rick to get into the grounds, we spotted Mike and his band moving their equipment out toward the stage.\u00a0 We walked over to grab a few words.\u00a0 We hadn\u2019t talked to Mike in a few years.\u00a0 He left the Big Mot to go into the mortgage business with another former Motorolan.\u00a0 They had done very well.\u00a0 It seemed like everyone at Motorola with a mortgage need went to Milestone Mortgage.<\/p>\n

We talked for a few minutes and then let Mike get on with moving equipment to the stage.\u00a0 We got tickets for food and beer.\u00a0 The food was brats, hot dogs, pretzels, and other odds and ends.\u00a0 Not much, but it is a good start.\u00a0 The beer wagon was promising.\u00a0 There was Hacker-Pshorr and Spaten.\u00a0 Two pretty good German beers.\u00a0 That should do the trick.\u00a0 For a price, you could get the souvenir mug as well.<\/p>\n

We got our food and drinks and move to the front of the tent so we could see the stage across the lot a bit.\u00a0 It was a great view and we were right behind the sound booth.\u00a0 This was where all the action was.\u00a0 We watched What About This set up their equipment and run through sound checks.\u00a0 They adjusted the lights with a mic stand to hit them on their spots.\u00a0 You want to make sure you are seen well.<\/p>\n

The band finished up and kicked right in.\u00a0 They were billed as classic rock, but there seemed to be a lot of 80s and 90s music in there.\u00a0 Mike had the Frampton set up for his guitar and of course, they had to play, \u201cDo You Feel Like I Do\u201d just so Mike could plan.\u00a0 They did a pretty good job for guys who just get together to jam.\u00a0 Mike says they only play a handful of event over the year.\u00a0 They brought some of their fan base with them though.<\/p>\n

Next up, the Musikmeisters returned to the stage.\u00a0 Yep, there was a tuba up there.\u00a0 No, correction on that.\u00a0 We were informed this is a sousaphone and not a tube.\u00a0 You have to use the German term for it.\u00a0 The guy on the end was holding an accordion.\u00a0 We were set for music.\u00a0 They started off the set with \u201cEin Prosit.\u201d This is the traditional beer drinking song.<\/p>\n

Ein Prosit<\/p>\n

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gem\u00fctlichkeit
\nEin Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gem\u00fctlichkeit
\n(Cheer!) Eins, zwei, drei, g’suffa!
\nZicke, zacke, zicke, zacke,<\/p>\n

hoi, hoi, hoi
\nZicke, zacke, zicke, zacke,<\/p>\n

hoi, hoi, hoi<\/p>\n

Prost!<\/p>\n

We sang German songs and drank some beers.\u00a0 At one point, the entire area for the event was full of people!\u00a0 It was great!\u00a0 There were little kids under 5 dancing to the music.\u00a0 The German band was very entertaining.\u00a0 After their first set, they traded out the percussion guy for a guitar guy.\u00a0 From there, they were adding old Rock and Roll songs in here and there.\u00a0 At one point, the tuba was playing old Rock and Roll!\u00a0 I know, I know, sousaphone!<\/p>\n

I drink slowly these days.\u00a0 I just don\u2019t have what it takes to keep up.\u00a0 Rick and Rich were giving me a hard time about drinking one beer for a long period of time.\u00a0 As Rick put it, \u201cYou\u2019re going to have to step it up to enjoy Germany next year, or it\u2019s going to be a total waste on you.\u00a0 That\u2019s not totally true.\u00a0 I can still enjoy it without having to drink a lot of beer!<\/p>\n

It was getting close to 9:00 and Rick was ready to move on.\u00a0 We were working on finishing up our beers.\u00a0 Someone stopped in front of our table.\u00a0 I thought they were asking Rich a question.\u00a0 When I looked up, it was David and Heather White!\u00a0 David and Rich are cousins.\u00a0 Their grandfathers are brothers.\u00a0 We\u2019ve known David and Heather for the last 20 something years.\u00a0 It was a total surprise to see them.<\/p>\n

They went off to get food and drinks and came back to join us.\u00a0 David and Heather have 5 kids.\u00a0 I had to ask where they were.\u00a0 Apparently, it was a good excuse to leave them at home and come out by themselves.\u00a0 We chatted off and on around the music and got caught up.<\/p>\n

We ended up staying another hour to talk.\u00a0 Then the beer and the chilly evening were getting to me.\u00a0 Time to go home and setting down for the night.\u00a0 We wished David and Heather good night and moved on to the lot.\u00a0 Rick drove us home and we discussed the evening.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s to hoping there is a Second Annual Rauetoberfest!<\/p>\n

\"Joy<\/a>
Joy and Rich in their German hats enjoying Oktoberfest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Heather<\/a>
Heather and David White along with Joy and Rich at Oktoberfest<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wasn\u2019t planning to blog about last night, but we had a really great time at the First Annual Rauetoberfest.\u00a0 The Raue Theater in downtown Crystal Lake offers a wide variety of entertainment for different occasions.\u00a0 We normally attend the Make Your Messiah event in December.\u00a0 You bring your songbook and can become part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3242"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3245,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3242\/revisions\/3245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}