Crowds gather to celebrate Oktoberfest in Bavarian style

Those looking for a way to pass the time on a lazy afternoon in September found it under the poplars at Minden Park Sunday, as the Carson City Sertoma Club sponsored its annual Oktoberfest. A large imported dance floor lay on the lawn, and fathers twirled their little girls to the polka tunes of The Al Gruber Band of Lake Tahoe.

People lined up well into the middle of the afternoon for authentic German fare: beer, bokwurst, smoked brats, potato salad and sauerkraut. But the kids seemed more interested in the egg toss and relay races in the gazebo. A light wind barely rustled the leaves and the small event, which attracted about 300, felt cozy and intimate.

"It's a small-town, community type of thing," Sertoma member Carole Karp said, noting she and her husband had been here just a couple of weeks when they attended their first Oktoberfest. They joined the Sertomas soon after, and haven't missed the event since.

"Everybody's out for gemutlichkeit, (good times and happiness)," she said, noting there is a large German community in Douglas County. This is a family event, and they all come out for it.

Founded in1978, the Carson Valley Sertoma club is the largest service organization in the valley, according to president Jerry Chavez. (There's German blood on his mother's side.)

"We get 70 percent participation at the meetings," Chavez boasted, noting they're conducted Fridays at 6:30 a.m. at Sharkeys. Any and all are invited to attend.

Primarily dedicated to helping the hearing and speech impaired, the group expects to net about $5,500 for local charities at this event, much of which also goes to local charities and organizations like the High School Band and the Boy Scouts. Their biggest fund raiser, a truck pull at the local fair grounds in August, nets about $10,000.

Oktoberfest started 200 years ago with the marriage of King Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Maria from Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The party was such a success that since then, each year in October, Munich business comes to a standstill as millions come from all over the world for beer, sausages, parades, fancy dress, and feasts.