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A BRIEF HISTORY OF OKTOBERFEST
The famed Oktoberfest began with a Royal Bavarian Wedding in October of 1810, with the ringing or wedding bells and a horse race. This was four years after Bavaria had become a kingdom, crown prince Ludwig of Bavaria (who was to be King Ludwig I) married princess Therese of Saxon-Hildburghausen. The official festivities lasted five days and included parades of riflemen, music, eating and drinking.
The festivities ended with a horse race held on a green which was situated in those days outside of the city limits and named "Theresienwiese" (Theresa's green) in honor of the bride. Over the next years the horse race was repeated and the Oktoberfest, also called "Wiesn" was born.
To celebrate his autumn marriage, King Ludwig the first called for a state Fair in Munich, the largest city in West Germany. The festival was dedicated to the fall harvest, and of course beer-the region’s most famous product.

Tradesmen and merchants came from throughout Southern Germany to join in the merrymaking. They examined the crops, sang, danced, and sampled the first beer of the season.

The celebration was such a success that Ludwig issued a royal decree making every October in Munich a festival time. Oktoberfest has been held annually ever since and has grown into the largest of all German beer festivals.

In the two weeks before the first Sunday in October over 6 million people are entertained in the vast beer tents erected in Munich’s Theresa Meadow. The main attractions are the beer pavilions, which can accommodate up to 5,000 people at one time. The festival starts in September due largely to the fact that the weather is so much nicer.

 

Today the Oktoberfest is a multinational festival, which is visited by over 6, 5 million people every year. In two weeks, they ate over 600,000 roast chickens and drank 5, 8 million "Mass" (one liter) beer. Over 2, 35 million kilowatt hours of electricity were consumed and 59 000 cubic meters of water were used, just to please 16 days long nearly 450.000 visitors every day. Beside nearly 877 tons of waste, which are spread over 26 hectares, 64 catering stands, 362 salesmen and 200 showmen give there best to entertain the visitors. Among them, the largest tent is the Hofbräutent with over 10,000 seats. In 1811, an agricultural festival was added to the horse race, which ceased to be held after 1938. The agricultural festival, which takes place now every two years, has been a part of the Oktoberfest up to this day. In the year 1818, the first carrousel was set up and also there some beer counters.

But this was only the beginning: 1896 the first of the huge beer tents were built up and until today only breweries from Munich are allowed to sell beer on the Oktoberfest. The number of carrousels, swings and food bazaars were rising too. But due to bad circumstances, there were also years when the festival could not take place: during French-German war, the cholera in 1873 in the years of World War I and II. But in the years to come, the attractions of the Oktoberfest kept getting more and more exotic, and the festival was getting bigger and bigger. Today the Oktoberfest is the biggest fair of the world and it's known worldwide. What's special and attractive about the Oktoberfest is its ability to combine a celebration for the locals and an international mega-event, a combination of traditions and high-tech, new ideas and influences.

The big opening celebration starts always with a folk march of approximately 7,500 participants through downtown Munich towards the Oktoberfest fairgrounds, presenting the diversity of traditions, folk music, and folk-dance in Europe: There are costume groups from every Federal State in Germany; groups from Bulgaria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the Ukraine are also going to take part again this year.

Brief History of our Oktoberfest

Just 3 short years ago in 2003, Bob Graf decided it was time to put Oktoberfest on the map in Danbury New Hampshire at his Alphorn Bistro restaurant, where he serves award winning comfort food inspired by his Grandmother’s recipes from her homeland, Switzerland. His father, Eugene, costumed in leather lederhosen, came to Danbury from Montana with his new bride at 81 years old to help celebrate the event together with his oldest son Peter and his wife, and Gene’s daughter Andrea two other brothers, Dick and Curt did not make it to the east coast for the festivities. They all dressed in lederhosen and dirndls. The event was one day only and it was a huge success. Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Graf even won the best dressed costume price, voted by the public who had no idea that they were part of the family. They wore their first place ribbon with pride the whole day. The Alpiner Oompah band was there to play music and sing in the native German tongue. Along with several accordion players over the years, Oktoberfest has become the premier celebration of German food, music, dance and fun all over the world. “We plan to continue this celebration here on our grass outside under the tents and in our bistro.” Says Bob. Just as the Oktoberfest celebration has grown internationally famous, so too has Oktoberfest beer. We will be serving Warsteiner, Spaten, and Lowenbrau on Draft. New this year will be our Ms. Oktoberfest contest on Sunday the 17th of September. Please remember when you come up to enjoy our wonderful festival, leave ALL of your pets at home!

Our celebration continues all year long in our restaurant, we serve our award winning cuisine by our wait staff dressed in Dirndls and Lederhosen. At any night in our Bistro your wait staff will greet you with a smile and a German Beer on draft and you will be transformed back to that little restaurant in Germany, Austria or Switzerland where you had such great home made food in a cozy atmosphere. “It’s like being at Grandma’s house” say some of our repeat guests. Come and see for yourself, during our 2 day celebration or at any time. You will be back!

A little bit about Chef Graf’s Cuisine

The cuisine I am known for is Austro/German. I would say that the most sought after dish next to our Wiener Schnitzels is my Sauerbraten which I serve by the boat load! Folks go crazy over this dish. I thought it was just a family tradition from my Swiss heritage but people love it. I marinate the eye of the round for a minimum of 4 days in Merlot, wine vinegar, water, onions, cloves, bay leaf and juniper berries. Sauerbraten is so popular that our guests actually call ahead to pre-order this dish since we usually run out on Saturday night. The Roulade we serve I make with my home made sausage which gives it a unique flavor. Of course we make tons of red cabbage, spaetzle and potato pancakes or rosti. We offer an array of Schnitzels, like: Jäger Schnitzel, Paprika Schnitzel, Robber Schnitzel, Zurich Schnitzel, Zigeuner Schnitzel and Geschnitzeltes to name a few. I make my traditional breaded Wiener Schnitzels from veal, pork, chicken and fish. All my gravy’s and sauces are made with my own veal stock which makes for a rich delicious taste. I also make my own sweet/hot mustard that we serve with bratwurst, pretzels and Fleiskase. We sell the mustard to our guests.

There is not a whole lot of German food to satisfy the growing cravings for it anywhere in the North East. Folks drive from all over New England for a taste trip to Germany. Since we are an Inn and a Restaurant we offer dine and stay packages to our guests to get the whole “Gasthaus” experience. We have an annual Oktoberfest that attracts over a 1000 people. We are unique because we are a husband and wife team who work together with our children who are all involved. Our female staff wear the traditional German style outfits called Dirndls (like St. Pauli Girl), and the males wear Lederhosen. We teach a German Cookie class during the holidays that fills up fast people just love it.

We have been known to send people home with our mustard and our red cabbage. We have not tried shipping it yet but have had many requests to ship.

Our local ABC channel 9, WMUR has a cooking segment called Cooks Corner. I am a regular guest on it and love the live show. It is only 3 minutes but I get the dishes looking great. We have also been featured on their New Hampshire Chronicle .