Correction appended

This report was written by Hatchet Reporter Emily Cirillo

Anniversary Park was transformed into a European oasis Saturday, in celebration of the German Club’s first Oktoberfest.

More than 800 people turned out for the day-long event, with free food, beer and music filling the Foggy Bottom park. The club’s president said the event was a way to bring a German cultural phenomenon onto campus.

“We wanted a large-scale German event and Oktoberfest was the obvious choice,” Emily Sieg, who was decked out in a traditional German dress, said.

Bratwurst, pretzels and hotdogs were served to attendees, and Tonic and FoBoGro donated beer for students over the age of 21. Program Board co-sponsored the event.

“Oktoberfest was held so that everyone could come out on a nice afternoon in late October and to connect the GW community,” Wesley Callahan, the executive chair of PB, said.

A line to the food was long during the event, and students who attended said they were happy to be able to participate.

“I love German culture and I wanted to see how the Program Board could recreate it,” sophomore James Coclin, who was clad in a German flag scarf and a Munich soccer jersey, said.

Some attendees said that the event lacked the same cultural authenticity that the annual German extravaganza generates abroad.

“I came to eat authentic German food and experience German culture,” said Claire Brunner, a senior who studied abroad in the European country. “I’m disappointed because they gave me chili, which isn’t even German.”

For more, watch “GW German Club’s Oktoberfest.”

This article was updated on Oct. 24, 2010 to reflect the following:

The Hatchet incorrectly reported the number of people who attended the event. A coordinator for the event put the number closer to 800.