Schmidt's Restaurant rescues Oktoberfest

I'm glad it will be at the State fairgrounds. I will definitely go. But what is the problem with finding a good German Village location? It seems like Schiller Park could be a perfect place for it. Right in the park, so it isn't on any streets. Seems like a no-brainer.

Columbus Resident, where is there enough parking in German Village to handle all the cars? The Fair Grounds is a good choice.

The Mayor of German Village is right. They all want the festival but not on their street.

Anyone who bought a house or business on South Third Street should know of the festival and other summer and fall events that have been on the calendar for decades. This is like people who buy homes with railroad tracks in their backyards and they cry about train traffic. You knew it when you bought it.

Oktoberfest will not be the same at the fairgrounds. It is a celebration of German Village's heritage. Kudos to Schmidts though.

Why not move it back to Schiiler park like it was many years ago? Kudos to Schmidt's for stepping up!

The State Fairgrounds!? How authentic.(note the sarcasm) I will NOT be attending this year. This can be held somewhere in German Village or even the Brewery District. There IS plenty of parking (garages, lots, steets) I'm sure people won't mind walking a couple of blocks. They do it for all the other festivals down here. I am sorely dissappointed this year.

How can this be an authentic C'lumbus Festival without the Buck-I-Guy?

The Fairgrounds? You mean that sprawling jumble of dumpy buildings and dirt lots surrounded by meth housing? What fun! I'll be sure to go now.

I appreciate what the Schmidts are trying to do. Columbus probably should have a great Oktober fest but why not have it downtown if the snobs in German Village don't want it?

By the way, I like to save up all the dog poop I bag up every week and take it to GV every Friday night. I festoon the area with little bags of poo and then slash a few tires on Third Street by Schiller park because I know those rich jerks can afford it. It stimulates the economy too.

Kudos to Schmidt's!! A class act.

The fairgrounds? Might as well have it in a wal-mart parking lot in Whitehall - the cache would be about the same.

Fred Holdridge and the German Village Society are a large part of the problem. They want to live in their own little world and control everything around them. Holdridge and his rich (or wanna be rich) friends have made German Village and living even near there ever increasingly difficult. They appear to lay claim to being the final authorities on what is authentic German. Their view is largely made of fantasy and a clear intent to exclude "average" people, gay or straight. It is clear the German Village Society is in disarray and they need to dissolve, and go away.
Yes, having Oktoberfest would be fun in German Village, however there are many realities such as very limited parking, security and police protection, traffic and crowd control, and even funding it on an ongoing basis. The State Fairground has, as I recall, been the site of Oktoberfest many years ago, and it went well. Being of rather considerable Germanic ancestry I am very comfortable with it being held at the fairgrounds and sponsored by Schmidt's. What I have never been comfortable with is the German Village Society and especially Fred Holdridge being the decision maker of what is German and what is not. They have a fantasy world of control that needs to simply go away.

Yay for George Schmidt and his family for stepping up to the plate like this! Thank goodness some want to maintain the good traditions of Columbus.

I think that the other german restaurants and micro breweries around the Columbus area should also sponsor and participate. There are plenty of them to be found!

I have to agree with GV Society is Problem. I live in GV and I'm also tired of all the control that the Society tries to impose onto everyone. And they make it damn near impossible to do any property improvements unless you are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars. And you have to get your paint colors approved and you can only used "real" and "all" wood windows and you have to use "real" wood siding. Those are all German designs. So the snobs found someone to bail them out. The city should have just stepped in and said the festival will be at the park and on 3rd st. I don't see anyone complaining about Village Valuables but oh wait that is "money" maker. But wait again so is the festival. That's GV Society logic for ya!

Glad to hear the news. Why hasn't Schiller Park been used for a site for
the festival? Lot's of green space and a beautiful setting.

Craig Allen, where is there enough parking in German Village to handle all the cars? The Fair Grounds is a good choice.

Claudia Goshorn, where is there enough parking in German Village to handle all the cars? The Fair Grounds is a good choice.

Finally someone steps up and does something in Columbus. NICE work Schmidt's!!!

Denise wrote:

Kudos to Schmidt's!! A class act.

I agree...and, I bet I will see the Columbus Resident there as well! I know it's going to be nice. Please don't pick an OSU home game weekend. Parking should not be a problem either!

Do you really think that the folks who live around Schiller Park in their million dollar homes want Oktoberfest in their front yard?
German Village is about as German as Bexley or Muirfield these days.
Celebrating a long-standing social event like Oktoberfest shouldn't be dependent upon being next to homes that even German visitors don't recognize when they come to Columbus.
Good going Schmidt's!

I live in GV and was sad to hear that they were not able to bring it on to 3rd street. I was really looking forward to it. What mad me mad was that residents told the GV society that they would donate $20K (the amount the fest needed to make in profit) if and only if they canceled the event. In some sort of attempt to save face they voted to cancel the event, and then in a separate vote accepted the donation.

And to those claiming the village is not true to its roots, that is not true, the buildings may not all be "German", or what you think German is, but they mostly hold true to their original look and feel. You can download the guidelines from the GV official site, it is a very interesting read and once done you will quickly start noticing the minor details in the buildings and the source of all the architecture. If you do not like being told what you can add to your house, you should not move into the largest privately funded historical district in the US, which is also a America Preserves Neighborhood and the entire district is on the register of historic places.