Throngs of visitors strolled along every block of Helen’s 2.1 square miles last Saturday when the city’s 55th annual Oktoberfest went into high gear with a parade and tradition- al keg tapping. The festival officially kicked off on Sept. 4.
People of all ages, some bringing their fidos of every size and breed, lined the parade route before noon.
“They come from all over,” said Doris Skelt- on, with the Helen/White County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Carol DeVincentis of Buffalo, New York, was one of Oktoberfest’s long distance visitors.
“We landed just this morning,” DeVincentis said. The Buffalo mom’s son, Anthony, 3, was donned in lederhosen, and her daughter, Anna, 2, wore a dirndl dress.
About 40 parade entrants made their way from Edelweiss Strasse onto Chatta- hoochee Strasse and down Main Street.
Floats, trucks, and golf carts whose passengers represented Helen neighborhoods and businesses wove to the crowd and threw out candy.
People in Fasching costumes handed out bead necklaces.
Student musicians in the White County High School marching band clipped along at a brisk pace.
Robert and Bettina Gössl were this year’s grand marshalls. The couple hail from Helen’s sister city of Füssen in Bavaria, Germany. Helen and Füssen began their sibling relationship in 1983.
A former Oktoberfest parade grand marshall, Marcel Blankenburg, also from Helen’s sister city of Füssen, rode the official beer keg in the parade.
Later that afternoon, revelers packed the Festhalle and Füssen Biergarten for the tapping of the first keg, handled with ease by David Hartis despite a sudden downpour. The rain didn’t appear to dampen anyone’s spirits. People huddled with new found friends under large umbrellas, or shrugged off the drencher choosing sogginess over sulleness.
Oktoberfest will continue Sept. 11-14, Sept. 18-21 and will run daily from Sept. 25-Nov. 2. For a full schedule of official Helen Oktoberfest events, visit helenchamber.org.