Lansing - Music, art and beer fans braved cold winds and rain to visit Octoberfest 2001.
The festival commenced Friday and Saturday in Lansing’s Old Town, and despite competition with “The Cold War” and the cold weather, a decent turnout of folks showed to absorb the scene.
“Just bring us some sunshine,“ Clair Lindemann said Friday evening, within hours of Octoberfest’s start.
Lindemann, who owns property nearby, volunteered his services to sell drinks, candy and snacks at the festival, and has done so for the past seven years.
He said Octoberfest was “really slow” in comparison to other years.
“Normally it’s a good time, and in the past the October has been quite successful,” he said. “But with an increase in pressures from all over, everyone out there is going after the people.”
Crowds may have been dwindling as a whole, but Terry Terry, president of the Old Town Business & Art Development Association, remained positive about efforts to diversify Octoberfest’s musical scene.
“We mixed it up this year with a German band doing polka stuff, and a Celtic band, it was pretty interesting altogether,” he said. “The beer tent was pretty packed,” he added.
The weather was no deterrent to some.
“I came to visit my friend and we saw fliers for it all, and we decided to check out the art scene,” said Ann Arbor resident Louis Dwarshuis, who was visiting with Haslett resident Rex Harrington Friday evening.
“We came for the visual arts, different galleries around here and the music, we thought we’d see what it was like,” he added. “The weather wasn’t a deterrent, we were doing outdoor things anyway.”
Both enjoyed the music they’d heard thus far, though they were not there to see any musical act in particular.
“The weather deterred us from doing our work, this is ‘The Cat in the Hat’ kind of day when you can’t work, so we decided to see the music,” Harrington said.
Sisters Sara and Rachel Lopez, both Lansing Community College students, happily avoided Friday’s rain and chatted in the beer tent as musical acts played.
“We heard from the newspaper, and we’ve been out here a few years back,” said Sara Lopez, a nursing sophomore. “It’s out in the street, instead of in a parking lot, so it seems more live, active.”
For Rachel Lopez, the draw of the event was simple.
“Music and beer,” she said.
The sisters joined crowds at “The Cold War” the next day.
