What, No Chicken Dance?
Posted on October 3, 2008
Filed Under Adventures | Leave a Comment
Posted by Daria
It’s around 7 on a Tuesday night. We’re at the Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuttgart, Germany, observing the mass of humanity partying in the Göckelesmaier (big roasted chicken tent) from our safe vantage point, a standup bar. Twenty-somethings from around the world (but mostly Germany) are up on the tables hoisting heavy beer steins and singing along to every song the high-energy rock band on stage throws out. Sierra and I dance to “Celebrate” and “YMCA” along with every else. We really should go but … it’s just too much fun.
We finally leave the Göckelesmaier a little after 8 and decide to check out the Schwauben Bräu tent, where earlier we had enjoyed a relatively quiet lunch. What do we find but more people dancing on the tables, only they’re forty-somethings.
The Cannstatter Volksfest bills itself as a folk festival (hence the name), so we arrived there expecting something along the lines of a state fair with exhibits, animals, and competitions. In that respect, we were disappointed, but it more than surpassed our expectations based on its other claim to fame: “the world’s second-larged Oktoberfest.”
Beer—huge liters served in heavy glass or ceramic mugs—is the festival’s raison d’être. Lager festbier and hefeweizen are the drinks of choice. Three tents hold 5,000 people apiece, while several smaller ones have room for only a couple thousand or so. Admission is free, which is good because the beer is not cheap. A liter stein, or Maß, costs 7.90 Euros, or about $11.50. Half liters, which are harder to find, are half that. On weekdays you can get a deal on beer-and-food combos at lunchtime. If beer’s not your thing, they also serve local wines and liqueurs, and dirndl-clad servers patrol the aisles with schnapps bottles for those wanting a chaser.
Food includes everything German you can imagine—wursts, schnitzels, spätzle, the best sauerkraut I’ve ever eaten. Service is lightning quick thanks to the hundreds of waitstaff, many of whom wear traditional costumes (which will run you more than $200 at an outside vendor). How can they carry a half-dozen of those steins, when I can barely lift one?
Outside the beer tents are more amusement rides than I’ve ever seen in one place, including any Six Flags. They look cooler and more dangerous, too. There are smaller wine tents, more demure and cafe-like, and hundreds of food vendors serving walking-around fare like heart-shaped gingerbread cookies laced with icing, half-meter bratwurst in bread, hunks of raw coconut (which float around in an aquarium-type contraption), and even our old friend, the Rothenburger schneeballen. You can also get walk-around beer, wine, etc. The one folky area, the Almhüttendorf, features additional vendors and food sellers, only they’re in traditional-looking wooden buildings. The one craft we see being demonstrated is chainsaw sculpting, and this by a guy from the United States. We had beers in a round bar here, where an oompah band played polkas and dirges and members of the crowd could play strange percussion instruments if they so desired. That was around 5; when we stopped by the area for a final round of snacks around 8:30 the place was a ghost town.
Sierra had as much fun as we had. There’s an Oktoberfest song with lyrics that sound like “Sierra, Sierra da da da”; we have no idea what it really says but we heard it several times. And a clown gave her a lollipop, then when he saw her again an hour or so later, he took the lollipop out of her mouth and put it in his and strolled away! (Then he gave her another one.)
Stan said he wants to go to Munich’s Oktoberfest now for comparison purposes, but I don’t think we’ll get there on this trip. One day of delightful, decadent excess at a time is enough.
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