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This past Labor Day weekend, the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds were transformed…
…with inflatable German beer bottles…
Yes, it was once again time for the Cleveland Labor Day Oktoberfest.
Cleveland’s version seemed to do the best it could with the resources available. Without the trees and shrubs to create a sliver of Bavaria, it used property structures…
…like this one…
…to create an interior bier garten…
…with lively German music…
…and a variety of (mostly) local micro-breweries set up along the wall.
…at a Budweiser themed booth in the midst of German food vendors…
…such as Cleveland’s Seven Roses and Der Braumeister.
From the latter, I got this wonderful potato pancake Reuben…
…and this not-so-wonderful Bavarian Cream ice cream.
My other ice cream option there was the Black Forest, but the woman only laughed and said, “This ain’t McDonald’s.”
I’m still scratching my head.
…in the commercial hall.
…German pride gifts…
…steins…
…clothing…
…gingerbread…
…clocks…
…and even (Amish) cheese.
And if shopping didn’t work off enough calories to make you hungry for more, you could find cultural events in some of the other fairground structures. One building we walked in…
… had a dance performance in Bavarian costumes.
You can see it here.
…Bavarian Americans made their presence known.
This charming little structure…
They also tossed German-style gifts every hour…
…and I was fortunate enough to get this coaster seen in the video here.
One of the vendors present was Canton’s Sugardale. But rather than sell their hot dogs products, they cut them in threes and gave them away…
…as free samples.
Looks like the Cleveland Oktoberfest is a great time!
My son and I went Labor Day weekend 2012. My son is 5 and they had a nice bounce area set up. $15.00 unlimited bounce houses, slides and one time on the bungee jump. they had seats for adults. I enjoyed a nice dark beer-Cornerstone #9 i think…while watching my son play. I thought that was nice. He had a blast! I got food from Schmidts (out of Columbus) Der Braumeister’s line was too long. I was very happy with Schmidts cream puff, spicy sausage, german potato salad and kraut. I would up load a pic if i knew how. .it was amazing! Overall a great time. Dont know how other Oktoberfest’s compare but i know the one in Lowell, Ohio is more like an open fleamarket not very German-esque, no german music or food really. I felt proud to be German at this one in Berea. The bathroom facilities were nice too. The entertainment was very nice as well.