Posted 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 20, 2024
For Sam and Megan Pierce, Oktoberfest is more than a spirited weekend
As they put down roots in the La Crosse community, one question always puzzled Sam and Megan Pierce: Why is this town so passionate about Oktoberfest?
“As a transplant from Iowa, I’d see people just light up when they’d talk about Oktoberfest, and I didn’t really get it,” says Megan, ’16, director of donor services for the La Crosse Area Community Foundation. “Why are people so fascinated by it? Why do we rally together? Why is it one of the first things that comes up when you search for ‘La Crosse’?”
So they decided to learn for themselves.
After being approached by a friend in the community, Sam and Megan agreed to join the Oktoberfest Grenadier Corps, a group of couples responsible for promoting the fall festival at regional events, parades and volunteer opportunities throughout the year.
In a matter of months, Sam and Megan were converted from Oktoberfest outsiders to enthusiastic advocates, making connections and extolling the virtues of Oktoberfest across the tri-state area.
“It started as a way to give back to the community but also have fun,” says Sam, ’15, associate director of Admissions at UWL. “Over time, it’s definitely strengthened the connection between the two of us, but it’s also allowed us to meet so many interesting people who love La Crosse and the Oktoberfest tradition, who we would never have met otherwise.”
Instead of going to a nice restaurant, a typical date for the Pierces now involves driving to one small town or another and dance alongside a parade float in their traditional Oktoberfest regalia.
“It’s so much fun to learn about these communities and their traditions, but also to bring a piece of La Crosse to them,” Sam says. “We pride ourselves on having a good attitude and bringing a lot of positive energy to these festivals.”
Much of their work as Grenadiers happens in the months leading up to Oktoberfest, but Sam and Megan have also grown to love the pomp and circumstance of Oktoberfest weekend itself.
An event often associated with wild revelry is in reality so much more, the Pierces say.
“We love the Thursday of Oktoberfest — the children’s parade at UWL, the senior breakfast, the Torchlight Parade,” Megan says. “Everyone says they love the Tapping of the Golden Keg, and that’s great, but we also love all the ways we can engage with the community outside the Oktoberfest Grounds.”
“Oktoberfest is so much more than the drinking and the not-so-fun headlines you sometimes see,” Sam adds. “For a long time, that's what Megan and I thought it was. But after getting involved and seeing the good work that so many people do voluntarily — all the people and programs this helps support — Oktoberfest is really something we’ve started to gravitate toward.”
Sam and Megan can serve as models for other young people interested in experiencing Oktoberfest safely yet enthusiastically. They are also part of the new generation of Festers intent on keeping the old traditions alive.
And they are old traditions: First held in 1961, La Crosse’s festival is the longest-running Oktoberfest in the Midwest.
When a celebration this large has been around that long, it will almost inevitably become a defining aspect of the community and the people who live there.
It’s something the Pierces had to learn through their own experience — and something that grows more meaningful with each new Oktoberfest.
“Especially as young people, the connections we’ve been able to make and the friendships we’ve been able to build have just been amazing,” Megan says. “Going to Oktoberfest has become like a class reunion for us. It’s made La Crosse feel like home.”
Oktoberfest resources
This year’s festival runs from Thursday, Sept. 26, through Sunday, Sept. 29.