SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — The Bavarian Inn more than doubled its attendance at its annual Oktoberfest celebration last weekend.
“Our previous record was 1,900 people and this year we did 3,080,” Bavarian owner Christian Asam said. “We usually do about 30 kegs of beer, this year we did about 50.”
Asam said the line to get into the festival never seemed to dwindle even as the day wore on.
He said there could have been number of factors at play.
“Was it the Brunch Bill? Which I think yes, did have an effect on it. Was it the little bit of social media that I think really helped us to spread? Was it that the Redskins had a 4:00 p.m. game instead of a 1:00 p.m. game?”
Asam said Oktoberfest began at noon before the passage of the so called “Brunch Bill” that allows alcohol sales in West Virginia muncipalities that voted to adopt it to begin at 10:00 a.m. on Sundays instead of 1:00 p.m.
This year they started at 11:00 a.m. and were immediately able to begin serving alcohol.
Asam said it avoided a lot of congestion.
“People would arrive at noon and by the time we got to 1:00 p.m. the line to get that first beer was hundreds of people, sometimes, deep.”
Asam said that was not an issue this year.
Still, he said, a manager meeting Tuesday would give them better perspective on what to change for next year.
“There are some things that we could do better,” he said.
Among those trouble areas is parking.
Asam said Shepherd University was generous in allowing patrons to utilize some campus parking spaces, but it was still an issue.
Asam credited his staff and the participating vendors for stepping up to help with the extra need.
There was a financial benefit too, with their revenue nearly doubling according to Asam.
The 40-year-old tradition is held at annually at The Bavarian Inn on the third Sunday in September.