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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - The end of September begins the 16-day celebration of Oktoberfest, a German tradition now popular all over the world.
The Morale, Welfare and Recreation of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., brought the German tradition to the military community with its own day of celebration.
On Oct. 4, approximately 3,000 service members, retirees and Family members gathered at the MWR tent on JBLM Main Post to partake in the festivities of Oktoberfest.
“This Oktoberfest is a great family-oriented event,” said Colin Brooks, MWR media activity specialist. “We built this event to be good for children and single service members.”
Brooks and his team coordinated the event and wanted to keep everyone in mind when organizing it.
There were many child-friendly activities for Families including pony and wagon rides, balloon artists and face painters. Numerous activities were available for adults as well including a keg toss, giant tricycle races and a rock climbing wall. There was also a volksbike event, which promoted biking throughout the community and environmental awareness.
Oktoberfest began in 1810 when Prince Ludwig of Bavaria threw a celebration for his marriage to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The people of Munich, the capitol city of Bavaria, were invited to be a part of the merriment and enjoy horse races and beer drinking. The horse races and celebration were repeated the following year and the tradition of Oktoberfest has gone on ever since.
To keep the event close to the authentic celebration in Germany, six different traditional German bands played polka music throughout the day.
“A lot of the Soldiers and Airmen that have been to Germany have done the tradition of going to Oktoberfest and now are back at JBLM and can see the tradition continued here,” Brooks said.
There was much more to the event than beer drinking, which is what is usually associated with Oktoberfest. Brooks and the MWR team made the event an opportunity for the JBLM community to get together, learn a few things about German culture and leave with a message of environmental mindfulness.
“I’ve never been to Oktoberfest and it’s finally here so I figured I’d try it,” said Spc. Joval Alaska, utilities equipment repairer, 542nd Support Maintenance Company.
Alaska was one of the many service members who attended with his Family. His wife and children were able to spend quality time while enjoying German cuisine and the many festivities the event had to offer. He and a few of his coworkers drank large mug-fulls of German lager and took the time to relax.
Alaska said hosting Oktoberfest on JBLM was a great idea. He believed it was a good way to have help boost the morale of all the service members and their families.
At the end of the day, the JBLM community was able to experience the joy of Oktoberfest in the family-friendly environment of their own backyards.
“This brings a lot of people together and it’s really good for the Soldiers and their families,” Alaska said. “This was a great idea.”
| Date Taken: | 10.04.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.07.2014 13:51 |
| Story ID: | 144505 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 68 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Tradition of Oktoberfest comes to JBLM, by SGT DJ Borden, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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