OKTOBERFEST 2015!
Oktoberfest began as a wedding celebration. In the fall of 1810, Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria was married. The celebration continued for two weeks and the idea of it has lasted for over 200 years!
Oktoberfest 2015 is here!
Join in the fun! See your friends, neighbors - maybe even you!
See some of the fun we've had during Oktoberfest over the past few years!
Watch this space - new photos will be added throughout during Oktoberfest 2015!
View the 2015 slideshow →
View the 2014 slideshow →
View the 2013 slideshow →
View the 2012 slideshow →
View the 2011 slideshow →
View the 2010 slideshow →
View the 2009 slideshow →
View the 2008 slideshow →
2015 Oktoberfest Events!
While most people associate Oktoberfest with lots of beer drinking, it's always been a carnival-like celebration in Germany.
There are rides and games, and Munich holds the annual poster contest (an idea we've borrowed!)
Oktoberfest menu cover contest
» view contest guidelines
» see the previous winners!
The foods that you will see on every corner at Oktoberfest include Roast or Rotisserie Chicken, Pretzels and, of course, sausages. We've got all those food and great German beer too!
So join in the fun this fall at the Black Forest Inn!
This year's festivities will 5include: Freudian Slips! Maskenball! Krautrock! Kids Speaking German! Celebrity keg tapper! Tubas! Weisenheimers! Paranormal Tours! Deep fried stuff! Prizes! Weddings! Cheap Beer! ...and more!!!
Don’t forget to enter our Grand prize drawing! We have several great prizes this year including: A Spaten neon sign! Wow! Enter throughout Oktoberfest. Grand Prize drawing will be Sunday night, October 4. (Need not be present to win.)
2015 Schedule of events!
Day One: Prost! Night
Friday September 25, 2015
The best way to start Oktoberfest is with a toast! Celebrate fall, beer, and each other with a toast. We'll have some for you to read, or make up your own. Standing up to toast is encouraged. Speaking from the heart is essential. Rhyming is optional. Prizes will be awarded for exceptional toasts.
6:00 – 7:30 pm Live music!Alphorns! The Matterhorn Trio will play outside in our beer garden
7:30 pm Ceremonial Keg Tapping & restaurant-wide toast
7:30 – 9:30 pm Toasting!
7:30 – 9:30 pm Live music!Jim ten Bensel on horns and Denny Malmberg on accordion
7:30 – 9:30 pm The Blue Angel(Der Blaue Engel, 1930) showing in banquet space
Paulaner Night!
Paulaner Night! Buy any Paulaner beer and get a logo glass for $1 (while supplies last; one per customer)
Sample Paulaner beer with the Paulaner girls!
Poster and Menu Cover Contest winner unveiled!
Get your picture taken with the giant pretzel!
German movies in banquet space courtesy of Film 4M!
Day Two: Maskenball Night
Saturday September 26, 2015
It's a costume ball and you are invited! Mysterious looks and fantastical outfits will intrigue you all night long. Mistaken identities will not be ruled out. Prizes for great costumes.
6:00 – 8:00 pm Try a sample of Kleiner Feigling, a tasty fig liqueur
7:00 – 9:30 pm Live music!Dreamland Faces, an accordion and saw duo
8:00 pm The Golem(1920) showing in the banquet space
Beer!
German movies in banquet space courtesy of Film 4M!
Day Three: Is Your German Better Than a 5th Grader's?
Sunday, September 27, 2015
The German language isn’t that hard! It’s pretty much phonetic and it’s fun to speak. There’s kids all over Germany who speak German! So you should be able to, also!
6:00 pm Nosferatu(F.W. Murnau; dir. 1922) showing in banquet space
6:30 – 9:00 pm Live music!Mark Stillman on accordion
8:00 pm Nosferatu(W. Herzog; dir. 1979) showing in banquet space
Kids from the Twin Cities German Immersion School will be here to school you in German.
20% of our food sales today will go to support the Amity Aid program at the Twin Cities German Immersion School. This program brings young German teachers here to work for up to a year with students in the Twin Cities.
Beer! For the adults!
German movies in banquet space courtesy of Film 4M!
Day Four: The Wurst Night of Oktoberfest
Monday September 28, 2015
We'll celebrate sausages with sausage specials, mustards galore and fantastic sausage-enhancing condiments. Order the "brat bar" and choose your sausages and sides. Swim in sauerkraut. Pile your plate with pickles. Relish some relish. You deserve our best. We'll give you our wurst.
Brat bar includes: Handmade bratwurst, Handmade chicken curry sausage, Weisswurst, Polish sausage, celery relish, fried peppers, fried onions, sauerkraut, homemade Bavarian Sweet mustard, Maple mustard, Horseradish sauerkraut sauce, Curry ketchup, rye bread, potato salad, red cabbage and pickles.
All that sausage goodness for $16.00
5:00 pm – 10:00 pm The Brat Bar Is open!
6:30 pm – 9:00 pm Live Music!Mark Stillman on accordion
Surly NEIN release party! Be the first to try it! Surly Prizes! Special "Surly Bar" in the beer garden!
Surly beer galore!
Bring your tuba and get a free beer. You may be required to play your tuba to earn the beer.
Day Five: Freudian Slip Night
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
No id, no service. No ego, no strudel. Do not repress your desire to experience this night. You might see some slips!
7:00 pm The Doctor is in. Tell him about your mother.
Grain Belt Night! Win Grain Belt prizes!
Day Six: HAUNTED BLACK FOREST NIGHT
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
We've been here for 50 years and the building is well over a hundred years old. It's possible that there is more to us than meets the eye! Join us for a journey into the unseen world, via the basement, and maybe you'll meet someone or something from the past…
6:30 – 9:00 pm Tours of the basement with the Twin Cities Paranormal Society. Tours leave on the half-hour, every hour, and last for approximately 45 minutes. First come first serve. Also, talk with representatives from the Twin Cities Paranormal Society any time this evening about your own haunted spaces!
Summit Night! Get a Summit pint glass! Win Summit prizes! Meet Summit people!
Day Seven: Weisenheimer Night
Thursday, October 1, 2015
There's a special quality to German humor that... well, eludes many of us. But making fun of the Germans, that’s a whole 'nother story! Join us for a night of jokes, gags and silliness. Enter the Weisenheimer contest! Throw some rotten tomatoes! Laugh your cares away!
Schells Night!
6:30 – 9:00 pm Live music! The Happy Wanderers, an accordion and tuba duo.
7:00 – 9:00 pm Schells beer samples & prizes
9:00 pm Schells prize drawing – enter to win a free brewery tour, gas card and one night's stay at the Holiday Inn New Ulm!
"Weisenheimers Wanted" billboard contest!
Day Eight: Berliner Night
Friday, October 2, 2015
Berlin in the '20s was the capital of the Weimar Republic, and was home to the artistic avant-garde of Europe. As the world slowly sank into darkness, Berlin lit up the night with cabarets, concerts, performances and parties. If you have a hard time imagining Germans having that much fun, you need to come to Berliner night!
7:00 – 9:30 pm Live Music!Dreamland Faces, an accordion and saw duo
8:00 – 11:00 pm Krautrock in the music lounge!(also known as the banquet space) with special guests! And a special screening of the Krautrock documentary!
Berliners (jelly doughnuts) free for dining customers
Spaten Night!Buy any Spaten beer and get a logo glass for $1! (One per customer; while supplies last)
Day Nine: Tie the Knot Night
Saturday October 3, 2015
As you know, originally Oktoberfest was a wedding celebration. So we're going back to its' roots, and honoring the original Oktoberfest tonight. Get married! Renew your vows! Celebrate your anniversary! We have all the fixin's: ministers, flowers, bridesmaids, wedding cake, and an atmosphere of love.**
7:00 pm – 9:30 pm Live music!Jim ten Bensel on horns & Denny Malmberg on accordion
All day weddings & vow renewals
It's Reunification Day also! That's a real German holiday, for real. And it kinda fits with our theme. What does it mean to you? In honor of Reunification Day, we are helping foster other, smaller reunifications. We'll have cards and envelopes for you to address to a long lost relative, an old friend, a seldom seen neighbor or anyone else. The card says "Let's Reunify!" and enclosed is a five dollar gift certificate to the Black Forest Inn, good for one year. Plenty of time to plan your own reunification! We pushed the tables together. Get it? We re-unified them.
Hacker-Pschorr Night! Buy any Hacker-Pschorr and get a logo glass for $1!
**Seriously, you could have your wedding here. Call us. And don't forget to get your marriage license seven days in advance.
Day Ten: Drain the Keg Night
Sunday October 4, 2015
We don't want to lug any barrels home with us after the party, so we're going to start dropping the price of beer at 2 pm and keep dropping it until the beer is gone. Seriously.
2:00 pm – 8:00 pm Price on ½ liters of beer drops $0.25 per hour
6:30 pm – 9:00 pm Live music!
8:00 pm – 11:00 pm Price on ½ liters of beer drops $0.50 per hour
When the keg goes, the boot (or glass or t-shirt or mug) goes! Prizes for the person who ordered the beer that blew the keg. There's 18 beers on tap, folks!
Congratulations to our 2014 Drawing winners!
Thanks to everyone who participated in last year's Oktoberfest!
See you again this year!