La Crosse just hosted one of its biggest events of the year: Oktoberfest. Plenty of college kids with no hopes of getting drunk had lots of fun waltzing and foxtrotting downtown La Crosse, but one odd part of these festivities had people in an uproar. Oktoberfest usually offers most things that are traditional to Oktoberfest culture, such as brats and pretzels with beer cheese. This year, though, the grounds offered a new type of brat: a sugared brat, coated in edible glitter, with beer-battered sauerkraut.
This sparked a huge change in the Oktoberfest that La Crosse has seen. People were enraged by this new item on the menu. In fact, most participants boycotted the event on the last three days of Oktoberfest.
Adam Samuels, a man from La Crosse, actually had something to say about this: “It just enrages me that America is moving towards this, especially La Crosse. I mean, I usually don’t even eat the brats from Oktoberfest because I usually ransack the West Ave Taco Bell or Kwik Trip, but this is not my Oktoberfest if I don’t have a traditional brat to look at while I drink lots of water.”
Even as I write this article, my email is being flooded by many citizens of La Crosse who are absolutely outraged by this change. Some even say that this Oktoberfest, they are swearing off alcohol. “I will not be partaking in any more Oktoberfests if this is what it has come to. I won’t even drink anymore for Oktoberfest if I have to worry about whether my brats are at least trying to imitate German culture,” says Brandy Daniels, a long-time Oktoberfest participant.
“Oktoberfest should be a time for people not to stress about things out of their control, and with this new change to the menu, we aren’t allowed to do that,” said Whitney Malibu. “When you add the stress of cultural importance upkeep of this fest, then I will not be attending. I have better places to spend copious amounts of money.”
What begs the question is why would La Crosse allow this to happen? With the boycott of this year’s Oktoberfest, La Crosse has announced it will not be allowing these glittered brats next year, as they understand the importance of brats and the people they serve during Oktoberfest. Will they learn their lesson, or will they bring glitter-crusted pretzels to next year’s Oktoberfest?
