Keg tapped, bell rung and Oktoberfest officially underway

CTV Kitchener: Oktoberfest keg-tapping With the tapping of the keg, the 46th Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest is officially underway!

By now, anyone who’s attended an Oktoberfest opening ceremony knows the drill.

The crowds will be upbeat.

The keg will be tapped.

The polka band – likely led by three-time Grammy Award winner Walter Ostanek – will punctuate the entire affair.

But a wedding? That’s a new one.

Yet that’s exactly what happened Friday, as mascots Onkel Hans and Tante Frieda renewed their vows in front of hundreds of onlookers.

It was one new wrinkle to give the assembled crowd at Kitchener’s Civic Square something to remember – one appreciated by veteran festers like Larry Loth.

“It’s an event we’ve never missed,” he said.

Loth’s Oktoberfest has a new wrinkle of its own this year, as he’s a first-time grandfather. He brought his grandson Mason to Friday’s opening ceremony.

“I used to bring her, when she was a (kid) – so here we are, 25 years later,” he said, gesturing to his daughter, Mason’s mother.

“I can’t wait for him to have a beer with me, and a sausage on a bun. Nineteen more years.”

As enjoyable as the beer-and-sausage combo may be, it’s far from the only thing Oktoberfest has to offer.

This year’s festival includes increasingly familiar events like the Uptown Waterloo Great Barrel Race, cooking classes and a slo-pitch tournament.

“It’s really about community,” said Jeff Botham, an Oktoberfest volunteer and longtime attendee who owns his own pair of custom-made lederhosen.

“It’s really about getting together with friends and family, a lot of people that you haven’t seen for a year.”

Don’t forget to tune into CTV Kitchener at noon on Monday, Oct. 13 (Thanksgiving Day) for coverage of the 2014 Oktoberfest Parade!