Beers, brats and bands at Oktoberfest in Greis Park

Attendees of Lynbrook Village’s annual Oktoberfest got a taste of German tradition.

Hundreds of people gathered last Saturday at Greis Park to enjoy German food and Oktoberfest festivities including a pie-eating contest, a keg roll, a keg toss, and a stein holding contest. Although most of the activities were geared towards adults, children enjoyed sack races, face painting, a magic show, and balloon twisting.

Roughly a dozen vendors set up stands selling clothing, books, jewelry, and Oktoberfest merchandise. One of the busiest vendors, Long Island German Steins, taught attendees about the history of steins. “These are all German steins and they’re authentic from Germany,” said Janica Brink, co-owner of Long Island German Steins.

Brink said a German restaurant in Lindenhurst was about to put hundreds of unused steins on eBay until she told them to sell them at a street fair.

“The fair wasn’t a bust as we had one table with 30 steins and now we have this table at Oktoberfest with much more,” said Brink, who  now buys and sells German steins along with other German products.

“All of these are handmade and painted in Germany,” Brink said. “The monks perfected beer brewery so the steins has a religious tip,” Brink added

Some of the steins were decorated based on historical events such as the bubonic plague. “The people in the 1500s felt like the flies were spreading the plague and so they wanted all food and drinks to be covered,” Brink said. “So this stein has a little fly catcher on top.”

The German steins that Brink sells dates back to the early 1900s. Brink mentioned that people would hang up their steins that were engraved with a number at the bottom of it in a hopper house. “They didn’t know you by your name,” Brink said. “They would know you by your number and that’s how they kept your bill.”

Prices of the steins vary from $40 to $150. More expensive steins were owned under the king. “This says KGL so it was under the king,” Brink said pointing to an engraving in one of the steins.

Another vendor was Boots Tights, which was featured on several television channels for its innovative design. The company combines premium tights and socks into one. “We are the only three brands on the planet that hand sews performance socks to the bottom of tights,” Shelby Mason, CEO of Boot Tights, said.

Many attendees who bought steins filled them with the beer being sold at the event.

“We have three types of beer including the pilsner, the weissbier, and the Oktoberfest,” said Theresa Foders, who was co-running the beer stand.

Along with beer, there was plenty of German food. Rivermill restaurant in Lynbrook cooked beer and brat combos and German food plates. In the beer and brat combo, there was 11.2-ounce Warsteiner brewers gold with a bratwurst on a pretzel roll. The German food plate had one knockwurst, one bratwurst, a potato pancake, and applesauce.

A live band was on tap at the back of Greis Park where a dozen tables as well as bleachers were filled with people enjoying a meal while listening to the music.