Like a pretzel, the logic might seem a little twisted.
Nevertheless, two different organizations will put on separate Oktoberfest events in Oak Harbor this weekend.
The Whidbey Island Small Business Association is holding its inaugural event 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday in the vacant field along Bayshore Drive. The event boasts $5 beers, $3 beer pretzels, live music and children’s games.
The Oak Harbor Main Street Association’s first Oktoberfest is Sunday. It takes place noon to 6 p.m. on Pioneer Way and will feature authentic German dishes and desserts, family entertainment and live music.
“There’s been some confusion,” said Melissa Riker, chairwoman of Main Street’s organization committee. “There’s been a lot of, ‘Why didn’t you guys get together on this?’ Our mission is a little bit different. We wanted to offer free booth spaces (for vendors) and they didn’t want to. That’s kind of when we said, ‘OK, you do yours on your day and we’ll do ours on our day. We’ll cross promote.’ We’ll have a different kind of feel to ours.”
The Main Street event will be serving home-made pretzels with beer cheese, bratwurst and traditional German favorites such as sauerbraten with spaetzle and currywurst.
Food prices range from $5 to $12, said Scott Fraser, who is preparing some of the dishes.
Off The Hook is roasting a pig on Pioneer Way and providing a big-screen TV outdoors since Sunday’s event coincides with the Seattle Seahawks game against the Los Angeles Rams.
Penn Cove Brewing Company, which owns the Penn Cove Taproom in Coupeville, will host the beer and wine garden.
There also will be children’s entertainment such as bouncy houses and a rock-painting station.
“This is kind of an extension of the Main Street Market,” Riker said. “We really would love to have this kind of excitement and energy around the Main Street Market every Sunday.
“We’ve seen a lot of foot traffic on Sundays. We’re trying to use this to kind of spark a fire with the merchants on Pioneer Way to be open on Sundays.”
As part of Sunday’s event, the Oak Harbor Arts Commission will officially dedicate the new statue on Pioneer Way, “The Barringtons.” The ceremony will take place at noon.
The Oak Harbor Main Street Association is a nonprofit organization aimed at helping promote and preserve the city’s scenic historic waterfront business district.
“Mostly what we do is create an experience in downtown that promotes the business and tourism of downtown,” Riker said.
