…. a major street in a big city, downtown!

The occasion was yesterday, when we were lining up for the St. Paul Winter Carnival parade. We (colgaffneyis) were waiting for our turn to join the parade. Behind us was a group from New Ulm. For a while (these events have a lot of waiting) they were playing some polka music and dancing. mia_mcdavid and I gave our respective burdens (a flag and a pike) to others in our company and joined them. It was a lot of fun, and a pleasant break in the long wait.

It also was a revival of an old tradition of ours, from when we lived in Chicago. The Berghoff, a German restaurant on Adams Street downtown, held an outdoor Oktoberfest every year, with beer, sausage with all trimmings, and a band. Since Mia and I both worked downtown, each in our respective bank, this was a regular lunch date for us.

The band played a lot of waltzes and polkas, but, despite some open space, very few people came out of the dense crowd to join them. However, when Mia and I were present we danced at every chance we could get, often being the only couple on the “floor”. The band recognized us year after year. We got our picture in the Chicago Tribune and the local PBS station showed us briefly as part of their “Seasons in Chicago” feature. We also provided some merriment for our officemates who also stopped by the Berghoff on those occasions.

Alas, 1997 was the last time we could do this. By the time of the 1998 Oktoberfest we had moved to Minnesota, though we had hardly settled in. We like our life here, but we don’t have anything like the Berghoff’s festival. I know there are various Oktoberfest events around the state, but there is nothing that the two of us can get up and walk to for a lunch hour dance, then return to our respective afternoon duties (perhaps with slightly diminished productivity).