Oktoberfest

For the last two years, Doug, Phil and I went to Oktoberfest at the World Equestrian Center.  We absolutely loved it.  The atmosphere, food and beer were fantastic as was the stein holding contest, but the best part was the musical group, The Swinging Bavarians.  They played traditional polka music, danced and interacted with the crowd constantly.  The three of us loved the event and made plans to go to again this year.  Phil even invited Nick and Meg to join us.  

Because of our fondness for the event, I was saddened to find out that it wasn't on the WEC's calendar this year.  Once I found that out, I started looking for other places in the area that were hosting an Oktoberfest.  I was thrilled to see that Swamphead Brewery was having one but wasn't sure that we would be able to attend since it was on a Friday and Doug usually wasn't home in time for us to go.  Fortunately, he was able to change his work schedule and last night we were able to attend their festivities.  It wasn't quite the same as the WEC and the band didn't live up to the legacy, but it was still a lot of fun.  There were Oktoberfest beers, food trucks with German dishes on the menu, and a lot of entertaining games.  My favorite moment of the night was when Doug and Meg participated in the sausage toss.  They didn't win but weren't the first ones out either.  It definitely added to the enjoyment of the evening.

Today's Oktoberfest at Infinite Aleworks wasn't quite the same as the band was a DJ playing regular music instead and the steins were filled with water during their contest, but it did still have good German food and beer for everyone.  The best part for me was that while we were downtown, we also got to go to the Ocala Market, The Peacock Cottage and Broke N' Records.  It was great way to spend a Saturday morning.