By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
The 30th Oktoberfest took place at the Whitehead Memorial Museum on Saturday, celebrating the beginning of the fall season.
Oktoberfest is a traditional German festival celebrating Bavarian culture, food, costumes, music and traditional beer. The festival is one of the two main fundraisers for the Whitehead Museum, with the other being Cajun Fest in the Spring.
The gates opened for the public at 5:30 p.m., and at 6 p.m., dozens of people were lining up for German cuisine. The museum served German-style food, including different types of sausages, German potato salad and coleslaw.
Michael Diaz, executive director of the Whitehead, said the museum was selling tickets for $30 prior to the event and $40 at the door. He said they sold around 380 tickets before the day of the event, adding, “We will most likely hit 400 by the end of the night.”
Diaz said Oktoberfest is popular with the Del Rio community because of the type of music provided and the food and beer people can try.
“We have Oktoberfest once a year, and people can get together to enjoy the food, enjoy the music and help support the museum,” Diaz said.
Diaz also mentioned the museum sold more tables this year,
adding they sold 40 tables in 2023 and 45 tables in 2024.
New Braunfels’ Seven Dutchmen Orchestra group provided live music at the Whitehead. Band leader John Kaderli said his group has been performing in Del Rio since 1996.
Along with the food and music, Oktoberfest lets friends and families meet and spend time together. Joshua Overfelt, associate professor at Southwest Texas College and vice president of the San Felipe Consolidated Independent School Board of Trustees, said the best part of Oktoberfest is, “visiting friends and people in the community at the historic Whitehead Museum.”
The festivities continued until 11 p.m. with the Seven Dutchmen performing more music, including their traditional “Chicken Dance” song. Raffles for prizes donated from various Del Rio businesses were also handed out throughout the evening.
