Seriously. Not a party with dudes just standing around. But a really for real festival of meat shoved into animal casings. We heard there was going to be an Oktoberfest-style Wurstfest in Mt Angel Oregon, and who could possibly pass up an opportunity to go to a real, live sausage party? Obviously, not me.
Mt Angel is about 40 miles south of Portland. I have been itching to go for a drive and it felt good just to get out of town on a short trip. I haven’t spent a lot of time traveling any great distance to the south of Portland. It’s quite agricultural. And because the Willamette Valley is so flat (and really green), you could mistake it for the Midwest. If it weren’t for the giant, dangerous, volcanoes off in the distance.
We weren’t able to attend Oktoberfest in Mt Angel last fall, but it’s the biggest festival in Oregon. Mt Angel was settled by Bavarian immigrants in the 1800′s. And from what we could see this weekend, these folks aren’t messing around when it comes to sausage parties.
I was born in Germany. I came to the US before I was one year old, so I didn’t get to learn any swear words. But because my parents had lived there for a couple of years, they had lots of German stuff around the house when I was a kid. So going to German festivals is Twilight Zone familiar for me.
First, we had some delicious glühwein. It goes down almost too easily. Then we had to try some frickadelwurst. Chicken sausage with a little bit of curry. It was excellent. Then we got a fondue plate, because how do you make sausage better? You dip it in melted cheese.
There were probably at least 500 people while we were there, and it went all day. There were sausage makers, the beer people, the oompa band, the guys with their socks pulled up, the whole deal.
There was a wood carver, too.
On the inside, this guy is thinking, “I’m fucking wood carving over here, motherfuckers!” *
And there was a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday Dear Oregon” in German, since this is the 150th birthday of Oregon’s statehood. Zum Geburtstag liebes Oregon!
zum Geburtstag liebes Oregon from Mile73 on Vimeo.
Again, I avoided getting drunk enough to do the chicken dance.
*(I hope this man never finds my blog.)
Review of the Mount Angel Wurstfest: Just rename it Bestfest!
on Feb 23rd, 2009
@ 5:30 AM:
[...] courtesy of Mile73.com’s Heather. Read her blog entry, I Went To A Sausage Fest, to learn about the profane wood carver, and to see video footage of the singing of Zum Geburtstag [...]
Mary Sue
on Feb 23rd, 2009
@ 10:27 AM:
I have done the chicken dance sober.
On a streetcorner.
With no music playing.
In New York.
Heather
on Feb 23rd, 2009
@ 2:38 PM:
Mary Sue, I think that kind of behavior is expected in New York, huh? Or they kick you out?
February 12-14: Wurstfest 2010
on Feb 8th, 2010
@ 10:42 AM:
[...] is Oregon’s Birthday. Read Heather’s review of last year’s festival, I Went To A Sausage Fest, and check out the festival’s rendition of Happy Birthday Dear [...]