Take one part rolling green meadow. Add some cool breezes with a dash of puffy white clouds. Then surround it all with lush, green pine trees and you have the closest thing there is to a genuine, Arizona-style Oktoberfest.
There are also the obligatory polka music, traditional dancers, an assortment of beers and the unmistakable aroma of bratwurst cooking on a grill, and it is all in the Mount Lemmon Ski Valley, 10300 Ski Run Road on Mount Lemmon.
The first day of Oktoberfest, on Saturday, marked the beginning of the 30th year of the event, said Jay Davies, owner of the facility.
"There are a lot of Oktoberfest events out there, but up here (on Mount Lemmon) you are in the pines, the cool air and you can sit on real grass," she said.
Oktoberfest continues every Saturday and Sunday through Oct. 11. There is authentic German food and sauerkraut so good, even German tourists take notice, Davies said. Many Germans are surprised to see an Oktoberfest in Arizona, she added.
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Bill Faust, a member of the Bela Vrucina Dance Group, echoed the sentiment.
"It's a Bavarian setting, like the Alps with the mountain meadow atmosphere feeling to it," he said of the Mount Lemmon setup.
Faust and his dance group, which does traditional Austrian- and Bavarian-style dance — including the holzhackerbuam, a Bavarian log-cutting dance — are scheduled to return twice in the next couple weeks, Faust said.
"It is a unique Oktoberfest with the ambiance of the alpine," he added.
IF YOU GO What: Mount Lemmon Ski Valley's Oktoberfest. When: Noon to 5 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday through Oct. 11. Where: Take Catalina Highway about 25 miles to the signed turnoff to Mount Lemmon Ski Valley. Cost: Parking is $4. Prices vary for the German food, beer and items like steins. For more information: skithelemmon.com
