The Wurst Brats play German music Sunday during Oktoberfest at the Chattanooga Market.
Bob Beaver, left, and Claudine Pantelias try on German hats Sunday during Oktoberfest at the Chattanooga Market.
Justin Montague puts his face in a cut-out as he has a photograph taken Sunday during Oktoberfest at the Chattanooga Market.All things German - and Italian and Mexican, too - were featured at the last day of the 13th annual Chattanooga Oktoberfest festivities, the oldest and largest such celebration in the region.
This is the first time the regional event encompassed five days, starting as a one-day affair and then spreading to two.
Jaimie Wilson, of Chattanooga, was among a sea of tourists and locals walking the area at this year's celebration Sunday.
"I came for beer," she said.
Nick Wilson, her husband, and Cindy Wiegand, her mother, came for food.
Barton Creek Farms representatives prepared bratwurst and Italian sausages for a fast-moving line of customers. Meanwhile, a longer line waited nearby at a white truck with a handwritten sign boasting "authentic made-from-scratch German food."
The Bitler Bistro served German potato salad, braised red cabbage, sauerkraut with smoked sausage and cheese spaetzle.
Aaron Hoffman finished his sauerkraut and sausage, but said it wasn't what he expected.
"I thought it was going to be amazing," he said.
People also ate Mexican and Italian food, turkey legs and grilled cheese sandwiches to the sounds of the Oompah Band.
For every taste, there was surely a complementary beer among the 99 seasonal local brews featured.
A trombone burped out a bass line that kept the crowd clapping and 90-year-old Joe Heflin shuffling his feet to the Oompah Band. Though Heflin is a three-war veteran, he moved like a spry dancer.
Lannie Harte, owner of Cleveland, Tenn., gift shop Daylilies, was among several women wearing dirndls in the audience, and a few men wore lederhosen. Harte passed out free samples of her sauerkraut while selling jars of chow chow and dill pickles.
"This festival is good for bringing in tourists and good for Chattanooga," she said.
Heflin's friend, 73-year old Nick Cobble, said he went to hang out "to see people he had not seen in a long time."
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.