It was like déjà vu all over again. Rushing into the Snowy Owl Theater at Icicle Creek Center for the Performing Arts in Leavenworth, a sculpture near the entrance stopped me in my tracks. Could it be? The artist had to be Richard Beyer, whose whimsical aluminum sculpture of a couple holding marketing baskets I’d just seen in the Mercer Island Town Center, and whose Waiting for the Interurban — a group huddled at a bus stop near the Fremont Bridge — epitomizes Seattle. A quick Google search during intermission confirmed my hunch.
Snowy Owl is my favorite place to see opera, and for the bargain price of $27. Hot beverages are complementary. Fabulous pastries and mimosas cost only $5. You’re even welcome to bring snacks from home into the comfortable auditorium. Lincoln Square in Bellevue serves hot samosas (pretty good), and Pacific Place in Seattle has popcorn (no comment), but neither allows food from outside, and a typical opera runs 3-4 hours! With a 10 a.m. start time, hunger is guaranteed. These three theaters are among 2,200 in 70 countries that screen live performances from the Metropolitan Opera on select Saturdays from October to May.
Knowing that the 2024-2025 season opener, Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffmann,” coincided with the first weekend of Leavenworth’s Oktoberfest, I planned an entire day in this Bavarian-themed Eastern Washington town. It was my first time at the festival, which is run by the Chamber of Commerce over three weekends (Fridays and Saturdays) in October. The Chamber took over the festival in 2022 after years of complaints by local merchants and residents about drunk and rowdy Oktoberfest attendees causing havoc in the tiny town. The goal of the reimagined festival was to more closely resemble the Munich experience. It’s now family-friendly and enclosed in a discreet footprint, allowing people to stroll through all of downtown, where oompah bands play for free along the sidewalks.
Holy schnitzel! The vibe totally worked for me. I was welcomed into a happy, friendly crowd. People from all over Washington State, Saint Louis, and Iran (by way of Canada) chatted me up. I met groups whose annual tradition is to rent a house nearby, don home-made or store-bought “trachten,” traditional German clothing and accessories, bring their own steins, and enjoy a glorious fall day. Nowadays, both men and women wear lederhosen, men’s leather shorts with suspenders, and I saw dirndl skirts ranging from micro-mini to floor-length.
I asked a couple wearing thick strands of mini-pretzel necklaces where they got them. “We made them! Want one?” they offered. After happily accepting, people started asking me where I’d gotten this unique accessory. “From a man and woman in blue-checked shirts,” I said. “What do they look like?” one woman demanded. “I took a picture of them. Take a look,” I offered, as she scurried off in search of treasure.
The beer gardens featured local brews, hard cider and kombucha, and wine from two local producers, plus six German beers. I tried a Märzen, from Munich’s Paulaner brewery. This amber lager was historically brewed in March (get it? Marz?) to achieve peak flavor in October. I loved the rich, malty flavor and dry finish, and wanted to take my cup over to the area where I’d seen a nice-looking schnitzel. But the guard at the gate stopped me in my tracks. “This isn’t Vegas,” he said. “Beer stays inside the garden. No walking around.” Oh well. I sat down next to another bunch of friendly people and enjoyed live music from the Michael Fischer Band. The entertainment lineup included folk dancers, yodlers, alpenhorns, pop-music, and polka bands from Austria and Canada. With multiple stages and room for dancing, this was a swinging party.
Walking over to the Kinderplatz (children’s play area) where kids raced from one play area to the next, I discovered it’s included with full Oktoberfest admission. The only thing you pay for is $5 to ride the 62-foot Ferris wheel or buy a root beer float. Everything else in the play area is free: a bouncy house, climbing wall, face painting, games, popcorn, and more. No wonder the children and their parents seemed so happy.
As a lightweight drinker, aka a cheap date, I could only handle one beer, so after checking out all of what Oktoberfest had to offer, it was time to call it a day. This year’s festival continues on October 11 and 12, 18 and 19. Prost!
Meanderings is a travel column by Mindy Stern, a Mercer Island resident whose essays can be found at www.mindysternauthor.com.
