As a newbie, I'm curious as to what events are a "Do Not Miss" events at Oktoberfest. I'm thinking the Concours on Tuesday and being there for the events on Thursday & Friday. I don't plan on doing any track time. Thanks in advance!
What Herr Krieger failed to elaborate was that Siebkin's is a resort in Elkhart Lake...at one time just about the only resort, is where the driver's, crews, worker bees, stay and party. The bar... a place where I've personally fallen down, is festooned with racing decals and serves libations to grateful race fans. So, if you're interested in bellying up to a bar where everyone from Auggie Pabst, Mark Donohue, Tommy Smothers, Jim Hall, Lance Reventlow and the like, have watered, Siebkin's is the place. Paul Newman held court there. Bratwurst, made nearby in Johnsonville, is the state hot dog of Wisconsin. Cooked in beer and onions and washed down with beer, the noble bratwurst has all of the vitamins and nutrients you'll need for the entire Oktoberfest. The Road America divides its concessions between charitable organizations, so the food isn't the standard track fare. It's pretty good, actually. Though, I don't know if these concessionaires will be open during Ofest. Sorrento's, just down the street, makes thrice the output of mozzerella than the entire nation of Italy. By greeting the Wisconsin natives (self-named Cheese Heads) with a simple "ya, hey dere", you'll be treated to Wisconsin hospitality, which will usually include a beer and an Old Fashioned, made with brandy. When responding in the affirmative to a native merely reply, "yah, you betcha". As a guest at Ofest, you should be warned to never denigrate the Green Bay Packers, overtly. They're a kind of religion in those parts and are blindly worshiped regardless of the time of year or the won/loss percentage. Those of you from MN, MI and IL, know what I'm talking about here. I'll have a Bears jersey on hand in any case. Its an ancient war...only we understand it... So, with all of the above AND the Ofest events you're bound to have a superb time. See you there. .
Just so there's no confusion, I have the perspective of being a native of the Midwest (Ohio), but I am not from Wisconsin. To be honest, I am still in culture shock some 19 years after moving here. So, speaking as your fluent-in-Wisconsinese tour guide, I offer this: A little mistranslation here. At least in Sheboygan County, it's "ja dere, hey!" There is no inflection; just say it quickly. Keep in mind that our 'j' is pronounced 'y' in German and that German has no 'th' diphthong, so it becomes a 'd' for all the common words like 'the', 'that, and 'there' ('da', 'dat', and 'dere'). The German influence is so strong (about half the local population is of Germanic descent) and so recent that there are many people here only one generation removed from speaking German every day. The schools teaching in German only closed down shortly after WWII. You are quite likely to hear the preposition 'by' used instead of 'to' ("Go by dat stop-an'-go light over dere." or "Go by Van's") because the German phrase would use 'bei' instead of 'zu'. And ... you may have noticed the local term for illuminated traffic control signals. Another traffic term somewhat new to this area is "roundabout", which has nothing to do with the Yes song. It is known in most areas as a traffic circle. They are regarded as Satan's Own Intersections by locals unfamiliar with the concept. If you decide to drive I-43 to Exit 128 and follow State Highway 42 and County Road A to Elkhart Lake, there are four of them before you get to Howards Grove. Don't be intimidated; everyone else will be. If we're outta brandy, as it often happens, you'll be offered "a couple two-t'ree beers"
I dunno, but I can tell you that the stereotypical Scandinavian comedic couple in Minnesota (or western Wisconsin) is 'Ole & Lena'. Around here, there are so many Germans, it's hard to pick out any outstanding names.
How come Wisconsin got the Beer and Brats Germans while Pennsylvania got the founders of bottle shops, state stores, scrapple and chicken corn soup?
You'll either be delighted or swear off asking me history questions forever. Pennsylvania got colonial-era Germans who, like all colonists, were pretty self-sufficient and produced all their own food and drink. Beer was no doubt a part of that and so were sausages, but it was rare to have as much surplus and dedicated commercial brewers as later Wisconsin settlers did. I suspect the 'state store' system came from the Quakers and similar conservatives who viewed alcohol consumption as undesirable. Wisconsin's culture of drinking is pervasive and, unfortunately, one of the most problematic in the nation. Wisconsin wasn't even a state until 1848 (Read the flag; clever, huh?) and most of the Germans came then and later, actually taking it over from the original French trapper/traders in the area. Germans also immigrated to the state well into the 20th century, making it one of the most German-descended populations of any state. Farming mostly flat Wisconsin is a lot easier than mostly hilly Pennsylvania, so pigs and the feed it took to raise them were plentiful; ergo, brats. The same thing happened with cows and all the excess milk they produced. There's an old cheese factory about every 15-20 miles here and many small independent ones still operate (like the Pine River Dairy, about two miles from my house). The beer industry is even more recent. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed that city's breweries. The only cities near enough and big enough to fill the immediate void (beer drinkers not being a patient lot) were St. Louis and, even closer, Milwaukee. Milwaukee could ship in bulk by water (Lake Michigan), so it became the predominant brewer supplying Chicago while Chicago's own brewers never recovered. That cover it?
C.R., My response was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but you're kinda correct and sorta wrong. The PA Dutch were colonial settlers from northern Germany and a by-product of the Georgian kings of England which were really Germans from the Hannover area. This was the same region of Germany (neighboring state of Hesse) that provided the Hessian mercenaries to the English army. In any event, the PA Dutch region of PA was the bread basket of colonial America and the farmers were quite wealthy. During the revolutionary war, the PA Dutch protected their wealth and refused to support the colonial army, unless sterling was offered to pay for food. Relative to the Quakers, they were fairly boring, but much tolerant that the New England Puritans. I would guess that it was the PA Dutch who were responsible for our continued vigilance towards the evils of drink. The later group of German immigrants were definitely more fun.
I knew that, but not bad for making it up on the spot, eh? Devoting a little more thought to it, I think the analysis is more time-period driven than economics-driven. You're right; these guys were doin' OK, so they probably had plenty of sausages & beer. They tended not to share it because transportation of the period was not nearly as developed as it was half a century later. Where there were ships on Lake Michigan to expeditiously haul beer to Chicago, there was nothing to haul it efficiently from PA to GA or VT. Heck, as a graduate of a high school known as "The Fighting Quakers", I know that. That would be the Kriegers who were in Ohio by 1840 ...
