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Thursday, October 2, 2003
SHORT TRIPS:
Leavenworth's brewing up big fun for Oktoberfest
By JEFF LARSEN
SPECIAL TO THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
LEAVENWORTH -- This town in north-central Washington is always a fun destination, no matter what time of year. But for a Bavarian-theme town like Leavenworth, Oktoberfest takes on special significance. This year's beer festival, which begins Oct. 3, is set to be bigger and better than ever.
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Last year in Munich, Germany, 5.8 million people showed up for the annual Oktoberfest celebration and gulped down 5.7 million liters of beer during the two-week celebration. Apparently that's why Munich calls its Oktoberfest the world's largest beer festival.
The Munich festival this year ends its two-week run on Sunday, the day after the first two days (October 3-4) of the Leavenworth Oktoberfest. Obviously the beer consumption numbers at the Leavenworth festival won't come anywhere near the Munich totals. But the fun and gemütlichkeit is expected to be about the same. Leavenworth planners decided to shorten the town's Autumn Leaf festival this year and add two more days -- Oct. 10 and 11 -- to Oktoberfest.
Leavenworth, east of Stevens Pass and west of Wenatchee on U.S. Highway 2, expects close to 9,000 people per day during the festival. That's a far cry from the 400 people who showed up for the first event six years ago.
Besides two more days, planners this year have added an extra venue in the form of a tent, or, as the German's call it, a festzelt, to complement the larger festival hall (festhalle). Entertainment will be served up in both venues. This year they've also added 200 traditional German-style wooden tables and benches similar to those in Munich. The tables have to be sturdy to hold those giant beer mugs.
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 | Jeff Larsen / Special to the P-I | |
| Accordion student Allie Kyllonen, 13, and her teacher Nestle Williams whoop it up Bavarian-style for diners at the Andreas Keller restaurant on Front Street. | ||
Oktoberfest will feature practically non-stop traditional German music, jugglers, dance groups, food and enough German beer to go around for everyone in the traditional biergarten. (if you're over 21). A German group from the "heart of Bavaria" called Die Wössner Dorfmusikanten is scheduled to play Oct. 10-11. The promotional material says the group will have festivalgoers singing and dancing in no time.
New this year, Clipper Vacations, the same folks who operate the Victoria Clipper, is offering a round-trip day package from Seattle for this Saturday's festivities, including the noon parade. For $48, guests get admission to the event, a continental breakfast and deluxe motor coach transportation.
Festival planners in Leavenworth told me that hotel accommodations in town will be scarce to non-existent at this late date, but visitors should be able to find accommodations in nearby Wenatchee. Leavenworth is about a three-hour drive from Seattle, depending on the route you take and the traffic, and about a half-hour drive from Wenatchee.
All the Leavenworth merchants I talked to are expecting a good turnout, especially the bar and restaurant owners. And, from what I could gather, Oktoberfest crowds are pretty well-mannered.
My little dose of Bavaria before Oktoberfest came in the form of an excellent bratwurst meal and German beer at Andreas Keller, a distinctive German-style basement restaurant on Front Street in downtown Leavenworth.
Owner Heide Kyllonen takes great pains to make her restaurant as authentically Bavarian as possible, right down to the wooden furniture and high-backed booths. Kyllonen speaks German and travels to Bavaria at least once a year to hook up with friends and bring back fresh ideas for the restaurant. The bratwurst was served with a ton of sauerkraut and tasty German potato salad.
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| Jeff Larsen / Special to the P-I | |
| A biker cruises a paved pathway at the Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat, which offers accommodations and a conference center amid the pines in Icicle Canyon. | ||
Accordionist Nestle Williams and her student, 13-year-old Allie Kyllonen (Heidi's daughter), belted out lively German tunes as dinner guests tapped their toes to the beat. Bavarian- or German-style entertainment usually is part of the dinner experience.
I booked a room at the centrally located Leavenworth Village Inn. The king suite on the third floor was very comfortable with a spa tub and gas-fired fireplace. There's a complimentary continental breakfast in the garden room each morning for the guests.
The hotel is on Commercial Street, a bit off the beaten track and removed from the noise of Route 2, but just a short walk from all the Front Street shops and restaurants.
White told me there is a variety of interesting shops on some of the back and side streets of Leavenworth that don't get nearly enough attention because of their location away from the hustle and bustle of Front Street.
One interesting business is the Hi Strung Music & Pickin' Parlor, a couple of blocks from the hotel on Commercial Street.
Owner Chuck Egner has collected guitars for years and told his wife, Candace, one day that he wanted to open a store to house and maybe sell some of his guitar treasures. Hanging on one of the walls is a very sought-after 1937 Martin, the kind bluegrass musicians covet, worth a handsome $14,000. Candace said her husband's guitar playing has improved since they opened the store a year ago because he has more time to practice while working in the shop. She said men like to hang out in the shop while their wives visit Dee's Country Accents, a quilting shop next door.
After a brisk afternoon of carousing at Oktoberfest, there's no better time of year to take a scenic drive through either Tumwater Canyon on Route 2, which flanks the Wenatchee River, or the 14-mile-long Icicle Road that intersects the highway just west of downtown Leavenworth.
Both routes wind through beautiful river-carved canyons and, if the weather behaves, offer some great spots for roadside picnics. The foliage in Tumwater Canyon practically glows with fall colors and is a popular destination on its own. On the Icicle Road, visitors can picnic on the rocks along the Icicle River and watch rock climbers scale the sheer cliffs of Icicle Canyon.
The Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery was the main site this year for the 13th annual Wenatchee River Salmon Festival, a free weekend of what festival promoters called "Edu-tainment."
Co-hosted by the Okanogan and Wenatchee national norests and the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, the fun event draws kids and adults from all over the region to learn about natural resources, outdoor recreation and the cultural significance of salmon. It's a great event with some interesting entertainment and a king-size outdoor aquarium that was a huge hit with the kids. It's worth noting on your calendar for next September.
After a dose of bratwurst and lively Bavarian music the night before, my visit to Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat just off Icicle Road the next morning was more soothing than a good antacid. Nestled among the huge boulders and tall pines of Icicle Canyon, the retreat offers conference and individual guests the opportunity to practically blend in with nature.
The comfortable rooms are configured in clusters spaced well apart on the property. There are several different room configurations in each cluster -- some with lofts, some with king-size beds, and even some with bunk beds. Like Sun Mountain Lodge in Winthrop, management here has opted not to include televisions in the rooms. High-speed Internet is available, however.
Other facilities include a sauna, gift shop, swimming pool and companion hot pool open year-round, O'Grady's Pantry, and the Grotto, described as an after-hours intimate meeting place that serves beer, wine and spirits.
Expect a lot of grins and herzlich willkommens (German for hearty or cordial welcome) during Oktoberfest in Leavenworth -- it's the Bavarian way. It won't be long before the willkommens will be replaced with fröhliche Weihnachtens (merry Christmas) and another celebration will begin.
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