Oktoberfest in Glasgow is well launched

Saturday was the first and certainly not the last Oktoberfest in Glasgow. In tandem with Homecoming, there was almost too much to do in town last weekend. There were spills and thrills, competition, cute kids, inspiring bagpipes, feats of strength, danger, people eating too much, heroic volunteerism and lots of braving the elements. Altogether a fine string of events.

The Glasgow Area Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture put together a Saturday lineup that everyone could enjoy. At least, they could if they had hauled out their winter coat and warm hat. The wind chill was about 19 degrees, somewhat nippy when people aren't hardened to it yet.

The day opened early with the Kiwanis breakfast at the Cottonwood Inn, pancakes and ham served by Kiwanians and Boy Scouts from Troop 861.

Glasgow's new fire truck was the centerpiece of the the fire truck pull. Although the police and fire department were not out in force because they did not get the word about their intended rivalry, the Chamber scrambled two teams, men v. women, and had the pull anyway. Not too surprisingly, the men won, but the women put their hearts into it and had that big truck moving down the street.

The children's parade at noon featured some of Glasgow's hardiest families and the stout members of the Saskatoon Police Pipes and Drums, whose trademark kilts require exposure of the knees in every weather. They marched down Second Avenue South from Wells Fargo Bank to the Markle's parking lot, where the Army National Guard tent waited with electric space heaters.

Four hopefuls (all male, in case you needed to ask) entered the hot dog eating contest held on the Fair Board's mobile stage, in full view of everyone in the parking lot. Contestants had five minutes to swallow as many dogs as they could. It was brat badness, sausage silliness, wurst weirdness. There were leisurely eaters who apparently just dropped in for lunch. Then there was Drew Markle, one serious competitor. Nobody came near his accomplishment: 13 hot dogs went down and stayed down. He won the title and the yellow Mustard Sash of Honor.

The next contest was just for kids, the pie eating contest. Ten children, ranging in age from 3 to 12, sat down on the stage before an endless supply of whipped cream-topped chocolate pies. Hands were allowed, so they were soon chocolate-covered from fingers to ears. As a pie disappeared, another one was put in its place. The three leaders were working on their fourth pies when the five-minute time was called. Kristian Price, Kandice Bass and Krissa Liebelt were declared the winners. Groaning with stuffed bellies and frozen fingers, they were wiped off and taken into the Guard tent for re-warming.

The outhouse race provided excitement on the order of the "Ben Hur" chariot race. Just one block long, it featured collisions, impalements and crew members strewn on the street. The five entries ran two preliminary heats and the final from Western Drug to Soma-dis Deli. In heat one, the plywood entry from Pehlke's Furniture, the "lil deuce coupe," outran the see-through plastic Cottonwood entry "Sweets," which was festooned with candy bars. In heat two, the orange Hi-Line Streaker from Dan's Auto Clinic and Hi-Line Homes veered into the brown Pamida machine ("No dumping"), allowing the red-and-white, welded-steel model from the Glasgow Rodeo Committee, longhorns and all, to finish first.

The final had three contestants, Pehlke's, Pamida and the Rodeo Committee. Maybe it was the wheels locking up, maybe it was uneven pushing skills, maybe it was just rough stock orneriness, but the rodeo entry went rogue, swerving sideways and stabbing a push handle through the side of Pehlke's. Thus locked together, they drifted toward the curb and Pehlke's push bar fell off. Pamida saw daylight and ran around the others, going so fast that a pusher fell to the pavement.

The winning Pamida team were pushers Nicc Kollar, Dale Anderson and Greg Belt, with Margaret Otterberg riding inside. She wouldn't leave the outhouse after the race was over and the gold toilet seat trophy had been presented - she said it was warm in there.

Two hunters came in from opening day of pheasant season bearing long tail feathers to be measured at D&G Sports and Western. Joe Wiles' feather was the winner at 21 3/8 inches. Kaleb Cole took second with a 19 3/4-inch feather.

There was a bit of bagpiping in front of D&G after that, but it was generally too cold for the jam session to materialize, so everyone moved to a more warming exercise, the pub crawl. This is a non-competitive but much-anticipated event, the traditional ending of Homecoming in Glasgow.