THOUSAND OAKS : Oktoberfest Party Rolls Out the Sauerkraut

It was the best of times, it was the wurst of times--at the ninth annual Oktoberfest in Thousand Oaks on Sunday, where more than 800 pounds of the German sausage was consumed along with kettles of sauerkraut.

Monika Holderied of Camarillo knew all about the pickled cabbage. She cooked it.

“We spent 18 hours making 360 pounds of sauerkraut yesterday,” said Holderied, dressed in a Festtracht Miesbacher-- a colorful party dress from the German town of Miesbach.

But it wasn’t the kraut Holderied slaved over that interested Dorothy Orlando’s taste buds. It was the bratwurst that took just minutes to roast over a hot grill.

“Mmmmm. German sausage,” said Orlando of Thousand Oaks. “I just love it.”

The festival at Conejo Creek Park, sponsored by the Newbury Park Rotary Club and attended by about 3,000 people, featured more than just food. There were dozens of crafts booths as well as men dressed in lederhosen and feathered caps playing oom-pah-pah music on big brass instruments.

Tuba player Pete Kier of Santa Monica explained the importance of Oktoberfest.

“It’s like the state fair or Mardi Gras,” Kier said. “It’s a time for good music, dancing and lots of beer.”

But in Thousand Oaks, Oktoberfest is more of a fund-raiser than a celebration of German heritage, organizer Steve Brooks said.

“There aren’t all that many Germans in the area,” Brooks said. “We saw it more as an excuse to drink beer, eat wieners and raise money.”

And it wasn’t quite like the real thing, according to Kevin Lieberman who has attended 10 Oktoberfests in Munich.

“In Munich, the beer must be Bavarian, but here the beer (Beck’s) is from northern Germany,” Lieberman said. “And they have much more food like herring, cheeses, and pretzels big enough to wear. But this is still a real good time. It reminds me of Germany.”

The festival didn’t remind Pam Parrish of Germany so much as it made her think of her little hometown in Illinois.

“We always had a big Oktoberfest celebration,” said Parrish, now of Ventura. “For a little Lutheran settlement, we put on a big party.”