Poo-Poo Platter

What better way to spend the last day of summer than to get drunk and goof off with some friends at the annual Fremont Oktoberfest. As usual, there was kick-ass beer, some fun costumes, and lots of good cheer. The weather threatened to go sour on us, but the rain stayed away, and the sun even peeked through for a little while.

I kicked off the fun day with the Texas Chainsaw Pumpkin Carving Contest. I managed to squeeze myself into a 3rd row spot just outside the “pumpkin zone” and got a great vantage point for the show (and within splatter range). There were only 4 competitors on Saturday, but they were a blast to watch. Some of the competitors went for pure carnage. Others put a bit more finesse and style into their work. In the end, everyone had a great time watching pumpkins get cut up by chainsaws. I could’ve done without the smell of gasoline, but the beer soon killed that.

After the pumpkin carnage was done, it was time for beer. For $25 I got admission into the beer gardens and 8 tokens to sample any of the 70+ featured beers. Being from the Pacific Northwest, I was already familiar with most of the beers on tap (I do drink a lot of beer), so I was on a mission to find something new and different to try. Some of my favorites included Rocktoberfest from the Rock Bottom Brewery, Mothership Wit from the New Belgium Brewing Company, the 8-Ball Stout from Lost Coast Brewing, and, of course, the good ol’ standby Mac and Jack’s African Amber (that one’s not new but always good).

Oktoberfest being what it is, even though you get 8 tokens with your admission, you can almost always get free tokens and drinks from generous friends, other drunken attendees who just can’t drink anymore, and the always-friendly servers at each tent. I ended up getting 4 additional drinks during the day. Three of those were extra tokens from my friends. One was a bonus pour from the New Belgium gang. I asked the lady pouring the Mothership Wit if she would give me a free pour if I pounded one right in front of her. She said, “Sure.” So, I pounded the little 5 oz mug of beer, and she poured me a new one right there. It was awesome.

This year’s Oktoberfest also turned into a mini Seattle Flickr meetup. There was talk on the group forums about coordinating a meetup there, but nothing was firmed up. People just mentioned when they might be there, and numbers were exchanged. I was already planning on hanging out with Scott and Tim for the day, so any extra people would just be a bonus. A few Flickrites did show up, including Rachel-B, tulipchain and her friend, and Fuzzirella and PunkJr, whom I didn’t even know were going to be there, but they just happened to see me as I was pulling out my camera. As expected we drank lots of beer, ate a bunch of junk food, and took a million pictures the entire time. I’m surprised we didn’t damage any camera gear.

I only did one day of Oktoberfest this year, but it was a great day. I’m not sure I can handle more than one day, actually. I drank a bit more than I should have and ended up dozing off for a bit at Benn and Brittney’s place (I parked my car there to avoid hunting for parking), and I’m feeling a bit off today. It was totally worth it, though. I had a blast hanging out with my friends, meeting new people, and getting some fun photos. You can see the shots from day in my Flickr photostream. Obviously, these are the shots I got before I was too drunk to hold a camera. I was wise enough to put my camera away once I had trouble standing up straight. :P