Special Festbier makes Oktoberfest special
German Ambassador, His Excellence Onno Hückmann (standing in the centre) with dignitaries and members of the Oktoberfest organising committee, celebrating the announcement of this year’s Oktoberfest later this month.
This year’s Oktoberfest is scheduled for 24 and 25 October at the Sportklub Windhoek (SKW) grounds in Olympia. “This year marks the 56th time that this extremely popular event which brings together Namibians from all walks of life, will take place,” said the Breweries’ Head Brewer, and member of the organising committee, Christian Müller.
Glossing over recent years, he said the Oktoberfest had grown tremendously over the past four years from about 1000 visitors in 2010 to 5000 in 2013. “We expect even more guests this year and look forward to presenting them with the biggest and best Fest ever. The NBL Windhoek Oktoberfest has become so popular that it attracts international guests and it has crossed all cultural barriers. This event invites every single Namibian to come and join this German tradition. The Oktoberfest is where we celebrate authentic German traditions. This truly unique event has a great atmosphere fuelled by Namibian passion and our quality local beers, brewed according to the German purity law of 1516.”
The famous Kirchdorfer band, all the way from the Munich Oktoberfest, will for the fourth year in a row, bring the distinctive Bavarian flavour to the Namibian Oktoberfest.
“This year we have lined up more entertainment to deliver an exceptional experience. In addition to our traditional and most prominent games of Stammsägen (log sawing); Bierstemmen (beer lifting); Hau den Lukas (hit the bell) and Nageln (hammering), more events are planned by the SKW’s sport divisions which include archery and even the mechanical bull riding. A definite highlight at this year’s Fest, is a performance by the Namibian Gumboot Dancers opposite the Bavarian Schuhplattler as well as our very own Namibian band, Wikaphoniker”, said Mueller. He extended an open invitation to all fun-lovers to “Dress-up in traditional Bavarian wear, Lederhosen and Dirndl, and receive a free beer. As is tradition, during the afternoon of the 24th of October, we will symbolically cart the beer barrels from the brewery to the Oktoberfest through the centre of town, with our band playing and accompanied by our Dirndl girls. So keep an eye out for this procession, as it builds up the excitement to our Oktoberfest.”
