On October 12, 1510, the royal family of Bavaria invited the citizens of Munich to a five-day public celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen, with festivities including a parade and horse races. A year later, the city repeated the celebration, adding an agricultural fair, and Oktoberfest was born. In 1818, the festival grew again with the addition of carnival booths. Over the years, other cities began to copy Munich's idea and Oktoberfest became a worldwide celebration of German heritage, not to mention a fair excuse to down a little beer and sausage.

Enter Cullman, Alabama

When Bavarian John Cullmann established the settlement that bears his name in 1873, he invited his German countrymen to join him, and they did. As late as 1899, a visitor noted, "A stay in Cullman is the next thing to a trip to Germany. Everything is foreign."

By the late 1890's, Cullman was holding an annual "German Day" in June, marking the anniversary of the incorporation of the town; some sources also claim that a German Day was held in the fall. Whenever occurring, it was a one-day event featuring a parade, speeches, and an evening ball. The celebration lasted at least through 1915, when a note in a Winston County paper said that Cullman's German Day had been held on June 10, adding with a touch of humor that President Woodrow Wilson (who had just taken a hard stand against Germany in the wake of the sinking of the Lusitania) had not been invited to the party.  German Day seems to have faded away as Cullman made its way farther into the 20th century.

Over the years, Cullman became progressively less German in its culture, taking more pride in its growing reputation as a progressive city. In 1939, the town adopted a new annual celebration that focused not on culture but agriculture: The Strawberry Festival.

Then came Cullman's centennial in the 1970's. Growing interest in the area's German heritage led to the 1976 opening of the Cullman County Museum in a reconstruction of Col. Cullmann's home, an event attended by the mayor of Frankweiler, Germany, John Cullmann's hometown. In this atmosphere, an encounter with the Bavarian celebration was inevitable.

Enter Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church was established  in 1877, only four years after the settlement and three years after the incorporation of Cullman. In 1977, the church celebrated its first hundred years in the wake of the city's centennial while interest in all things German was still running high.

The one-day celebration held in June of that year, was tabled a "German festival" and featured an array of German foods (and American specialties like hamburgers for those with simpler tastes), banners decorating the city streets, a poster contest for children at Sacred Heart School, and Oktoberfest-style booths with carnival games. The event was successful enough to bear repeating and became an annual fundraiser for the school.

In 1982, the Cullman Downtown Merchants Association joined with Sacred Heart to create a weeklong fall celebration that culminated in the school's fundraising event. In that year, the "German Festival" became Oktoberfest, with one small difference from its Bavarian counterpart.

There was no beer.

Dry Oktoberfest?

It's true. In Cullman's early days, the city and the county had their fill of beer, wine, and liquor. The city had saloons and brewers with their own recipes. To the north, Vinemont got its name from its wine-producing vineyards, and John Cullmann himself organized the Wine Company of Cullman. The area was known especially for its sweet wines.

All that changed in the 1930's when, led by cultural shifts and Baptist ministers, citizens voted Cullman County dry. In 1982, the city's first official Oktoberfest featured the tapping of the ROOT beer barrel, a tradition that continues to this day. Along the way, Cullmanites would also sip "Octoberzest," a custom-brewed non-alcoholic apple cider. Some think that the dry celebration may have been the only official Oktoberfest in the world with no beer; carnival games, festivities, Miss Oktoberfest, wiener dog races, car shows and more, but no beer.

Cullman's was a small celebration, and many felt that the lack of beer was holding back both the event and the city. Cullman's dry status has been said to have negativity affected decisions to locate businesses and industries to the area, and rumors even circulated that Mercedes chose Tuscaloosa over Cullman for its Alabama auto plant because Tuscaloosa had alcohol.

Prost! (That's "Cheers!" in German)

Alcohol aficionados made several unsuccessful attempts at a wet Cullman over the years until November 2010, when voters passed a conservative measure to bring in alcohol on a basis somewhat more limited than many places. So Cullman would see restaurants with bars, but not bars without restaurants. And on October 5, 2011, Cullman would see real beer flow from the tap of Oktoberfest.

Since the first wet Oktoberfest, the event has lived up to pro-beer predictions, in recent years drawing crowds of over 10,000 for the big Saturday that closes the event.

Why is the hay wearing lederhosen?

A couple of Cullman's more visible Oktoberfest features are the pairs of giant hay people located downtown and at Depot Park. In 1999, Philip and Pat Clemmons traveled to Germany and saw similar decorations at Oktoberfest celebrations there, so they returned with the idea and set to work on making the tradition a Cullman reality. In 2000, using hay from their own farm and help from friends and family, they set up hay couples at locations around town. Pat Clemmons also supplied the mums that were displayed all over Cullman around Oktoberfest. The Clemmons' children, helped by others, continued the tradition after the couple died in a plane crash in 2008.

Cullman honored the memory of Pat and Philip Clemmons by declaring them the 2008 Burgermeister. Their children carried out their duties.

Oktoberfest today

Today's Oktoberfest is one of the biggest annual events in Cullman, featuring live traditional and contemporary music, Miss Oktoberfest contest, farmers' market, craft show, historical walking tours, wiener dog races and pet costume contest, children's activities, car show, 5k and 10k runs, food vendors and yes, a biergarten. Several local churches also put on German dinners and other activities during the week.