ON THE TOWN:

The Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce pulled out all the stops for its 31st annual Oktoberfest on Saturday in spite of morning showers.

The order of the day was German cuisine, Oompah bands, dancing, carnival rides, bingo, and costume and Best-Dressed Dog contests. Disappointed that her tiny Chihuahua-mix in authentic Bavarian dress didn’t win was Lainie Nakai of Echo Park.

“Jerry was robbed,” Nakai said. Joining Jerry and Lainie were sister Kristi Nakai from Hollywood and Gail Byrd of Montrose.

The 45th anniversary of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf was celebrated by free samples of their signature Columbia coffee. Indulging were Glendale residents Sean Joyce and James Fletcher.

First degree brown belts, La Crescenta residents Matthew Porcell, 11, and brother James Porcell, 13, led the parade for Fred Villari’s Studios of Self-Defense in Montrose. Also in the parade were the boys’ uncle Gaspi Porcell of Montrose and Dannon Moore of Glendale.

First-time Oktoberfest performers were 9-year-old dancers from La Cañada Flintridge’s Vonder Haar Center for the Performing Arts, Michael Stukan from South Pasadena and Cheri McKenzie of Altadena.

Trying their luck at the Hit-the-Bell booth were Catherine Pierce, 8, and Koa Jacobson, 4. Dad, Chris Jacobson, lent a hand. All three Sunland residents wielded a mean hammer and won prizes.

This year more volunteers staffed the ticket booths to prevent the long lines of last year. One of those was Glendale resident Josie Morey, Service & Sales representative at Wells Fargo Bank in Montrose.

“I love the community spirit here in Montrose,” Morey said.

The funds raised at the fest will allow the chamber to provide its continuing services to the community such as scholarships for students.

TasteTV’s second annual Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon at the Pasadena Center opened its doors to several hundred chocolate lovers Sunday.

The $20 entry fee bought all the chocolate you could eat. And some hardy Glendale residents did just that. Laura Megliorino, a financial counselor at Glendale Memorial Hospital, tried some Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream Liqueur.

Richard Rodriguez, her fiancé from Azusa, agreed with her choice.

“My grandmother used to take us to the chocolate shows at the Convention Center,” Megliorino said.

It was anchors away Sept. 30 for the first-ever Dr. Laura Schlessinger Cruise from Vancouver, British Columbia, to San Diego.

There was a tiny but mighty Glendale contingent on board Holland America’s Oosterdam that attended shows, make-up demos and exercised with the syndicated, radio talk show personality over four days — and yours truly, husband, Richard Sowby, Cecelia Walker and LaMont Crocker didn’t miss a beat.

 RUTH SOWBY may be reached at ruthsowby@msn.com.