It
was Red Bones' first ever Oktoberfest celebration, with a nice humble
beginning this year and plans to work with the Somerville Chamber of
Commerce to make it a city-wide event next year.

The Mad
Bavarian Brass Band played the traditional German polkas, marches, and
all around "happy music" that the kids in attendance particularly
loved. There were tents emanating the heady scents of bratwurst,
knockwurst and sauerkraut, potato pancakes, and pretzels. And of course
there was plenty of German beer to the delight of those who wanted an
excuse to drink during the day.

"I like that everyone is just
hanging around, enjoying themselves on a sunny, Sunday afternoon," said
Evan Ng of Chicago, who was in town visiting his Somerville friends.
"It's always nice to come across a fun event like this and just take a
moment to relax."

His friend, Rob Gant of Somerville, bit into
a potato pancake and nodded with approval. "I never had a bacon potato
pancake before, and my family is German."

Jeff Reese and Patti
Davis of Medford (they used to live here in Somerville) came to Davis
Square just for the event. Reese had visited Munich, Germany (where
Oktoberfest originated) a few years ago, so this day was also a bit
nostalgic. He was impressed that Red Bones-which traditionally serves
up barbecue-was able to create authentic-tasting German food.

"We
just met some people who live near us in Medford," Davis said, "Events
like this are a great way to get to know people in the area."

The
Oktoberfest tradition started in 1810 to celebrate the October 12
marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to the Saxon-Hildburghausen
Princess Therese. The citizens of Munich were invited to join in the
festivities which were held over five days on the fields in front of
the city gates.

Today, the event entails erecting tents the size
of football fields and drawing millions of tourists. Craig Gunderson of
Jamaica Plain went to Oktoberfest in Munich a few years ago and said
that the Somerville scaled-down version was much more relaxing, akin to
visiting a fest in a small town in Austria.

Gunderson was
making his routine pilgrimage to Somerville to get bread at When Pigs
Fly Bakery when he came across the festival.

"Oktoberfest to me is about community," he said. "They love their festivals in Europe, as community is the center of life."

And
he added it's great to have events like this in the fall, as people
have to celebrate before winter comes and it gets too cold.