Tulsa Oktoberfest Returns This Weekend With New Games

Grab your steins. It is Tulsa Oktoberfest time!

The annual festival is back for its 44th year and benefits the nonprofit German American Society of Tulsa and River Parks Authority.

Tulsa Oktoberfest was ranked in the top 5 for USA Today's Best Oktoberfest. Volunteer Ryan Howell said while it is a huge accomplishment, he believes it should be much higher.

"I know they say number 4, but I think if you look at the numbers really hard, we would be the biggest Oktoberfest celebration in the nation," Howell said.

It takes three weeks to transform River West Festival Park into a German village for Tulsa Oktoberfest. Howell said the inspiration comes from Germany itself.

"We actually have a committee that flies to Germany on a regular basis and attends the giant Oktoberfest in Munich, and they bring back all of the things that they're doing," he added.

One of the ideas that came from their trip was the German-themed game called the MassKrug Relay.

"It is an emulation of beer service in Munich, so you are pretending to deliver the beers really fast," Howell said.

With 20 seconds on the clock, each challenger must get down and back, holding ten steins filled with water, without spilling. It is one of four competitions held every night of the festival.

"All of our games are free to sign up for here in the Karbach Games Arena," Howell continued saying, "We do them at 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock, and 8 o'clock every single night."

If all that action makes you thirsty, he said the Biergarten has over 100 different beers on tap, many with German origins. Also, around every corner is classic German food like brats and schnitzel.

"There is a lot of ways that you can come and just experience that German Bavarian culture that we all love," Howell said.

He adds the experience is as authentic as if you made the more than 5,000-mile journey to Germany.