CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Joseph Wourms was racing across a lawn with a full mug of beer in hand.
It’s not how the Charlottetown man expected to spend his Saturday evening, but the energy of the crowd convinced him to give the steinholding relay race a try.
“It got my German blood boiling.”
And better yet, he was winning. He had hardly spilled a drop of beer, he said.
But when he handed the mug off to his partner, well, they may have lost a little bit. Which may have lost them the race.
It didn’t keep Wourms from enjoying his time at Oktoberfest in downtown Charlottetown on Sept. 28. It’s the first event held at Founders’ Food Hall, taking inspiration from the annual beer festival in Germany.
Brad Doiron, owner of Founders Delicatessen, pitched the event idea to other vendors at the food hall. He sells a lot of German- and east European-inspired products, such as bratwurst sausage.
“So, we decided to do Oktoberfest, which is essentially sausage and beer.”
The day featured live music and traditional Oktoberfest activities like steinholding and keg tossing. A few attendees were dressed up in one of the country’s traditional garbs, lederhosen, and many other food hall vendors created their own foods to fit the theme.
Fiamma Pizzeria had a special pizza using summer sausage, sweet mustard sauce, and woodfire caramelized onions. Doughnuts by Design put together a beer and chip flavoured donut, which sold out quickly.
Some vendors were already featuring German delicacies on their menu. Holy Fox Food makes Bavarian-style pretzels, and Maritime Marzipan sells chocolate treats using marzipan.
“There’s a big German community here on the Island,” Doiron said.
As the tourist season comes to a close, the food hall’s vendors plan to have more events like this to draw the local population in during the winter months.
“And this is really what we want here. We want more events; we want community involvement. Because things like this are only going to last if people support it,” he said.
For Wourms, it was his first time visiting Founders’ Food Hall. The Oktoberfest event was fun and well-hosted, he said.
“They’re putting (this building) to good use to support these local businesses.”
He was impressed with the wide age-range amongst the crowd, from young to old, as well as with their participation in the event’s activities.
“That was very nice to see,” he said. “They came together and had a great ol’ time.”
Founders’ Food Hall has been open since August, but its official grand opening is on Saturday, Oct. 5.
