A Dachshund dog takes part in the Running of the Wieners in Cincinnati on September 18. Photo: AFP

 

Participants roll beer barrels during Oktoberfest celebrations in downtown Cincinnati on September 18. Photo: AFP

Tourists take part in Oktoberfest celebrations in downtown on September 19. Photo: AFP

Oompah bands push their brass instruments to the limit as a group of locals sporting lederhosen and dirndl dresses raise their beer steins to loud cheers.

It could be a scene from Bavaria but instead it is in the US heartland city of Cincinnati, which celebrated one of the largest Oktoberfest events outside of Munich this weekend.

The dressing-up and beer drinking is not all for show: this midwestern city has authentic German roots hidden in a neighborhood called Over-the-Rhine, which is slowly recovering from decades of poverty, urban decay and racial tensions.

"Cincinnati has a rich, deep culture related to Germany," Pat Sheeran from the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce told AFP.

The city's Oktoberfest breathes "the spirit of Germany from a food standpoint, from a beer standpoint, from the way people dress," Sheeran said.

Although only a minority of the German immigrants who settled in the US actually came from Bavaria, Oktoberfest is widely seen as the quintessential Teutonic event.

"I think it goes back to the post-World War II era, when Bavaria was the occupation zone for the US army," Don Tolzmann, author of several books on German-American history, told AFP.

While the image of Germany was scarred by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, many US soldiers brought back positive memories and sometimes even a Bavarian wife.

"German-Americans supported it, regardless of whether they were Bavarian or not," Tolzmann said.

"They saw this as a positive way to help revitalize and rebuild their heritage."

Americanized holiday

At Cincinnati's Oktoberfest, some 650,000 people flock to the main downtown thoroughfare where nine festival tents, beer gardens and numerous food stands transform the area for three days into a little Bavaria.

Organizers say this is the second-largest Oktoberfest outside of Munich, even though cities in Brazil and China also claim this title.

Visitors are expected to guzzle down some 2,000 barrels of beer, eat more than 23,000 pretzels, and devour more than 100,000 sausages.

But certain features could raise a few eyebrows among guests from the Old Continent, such as deep fried sauerkraut and a culinary creation named German nachos.

"That's the American spin on it," Sheeran said.

"We call ourselves America's Oktoberfest. And we do unusual things."

A race of dachshunds outfitted in a hot dog bun costume, for example.

Many Americans associate the short-legged, long-bodied dogs with Germany, and their sausage-like shape inspired the nickname "wieners."

The dachshunds run down a racetrack in downtown Cincinnati while their owners try to lure them to the finish line. 

"My wife Jodi and I have German heritage and we love Oktoberfest," Cincinnati resident Henry Stacey told AFP, proudly holding the winning wiener Max in his arms.

US census figures show that more than 46 million Americans trace their roots back to German families, making German-Americans the largest ethnic group by national ancestry in the US.

Immigrants from German-speaking states ventured across the Atlantic mostly in the 19th and early 20th century, seeking political freedom and economic opportunities, and many settled in Midwestern cities like Milwaukee, St. Louis and Cincinnati.

"Probably half of the population of the Cincinnati area has German ancestry," Tolzmann said.

"And in the 19th century, they were concentrating in Over-the-Rhine."

Cincinnati's German roots

The area north of downtown Cincinnati overlooking the Ohio River was once home to more than 44,000 people, making it the second-most populated US neighborhood outside of Lower Manhattan.

In 2010, this number was down to about 6,000.

Over-the-Rhine became "shorthand for urban decline," said Joe Brinker, who is co-producing a documentary film on efforts to revitalize the neighborhood.

Many of the buildings bearing inscriptions in German lay vacant, as the now mostly African-American population struggles with violence, drug crime and poverty.

At one point billed the most dangerous zip code in the country, Over-the-Rhine was the epicenter of race riots after a white policeman killed an African-American teenager in 2001.

Over the past few years, a slew of new art galleries, restaurants and bars have changed the neighborhood, leading also to a rediscovery of the German heritage.

A local brewer reopened the historic Moerlein brewery, which was forced to close after Prohibition hit in 1919, reintroducing several classic Cincinnati beer brands.

Wiesnkoenig, the official lederhosen supplier of the Munich Oktoberfest, opened their first US store in Over-the-Rhine last year.

"At first we were concerned that we would attract only German-American clubs, but that's not the case," Oliver Pfund from Wiesnkoenig USA told AFP.

"We are getting a lot of young people who don't necessarily have a German background, but who want to dress up for Oktoberfest."

Referring to the fashion-conscious 20- and 30-somethings that have started moving back into Over-the-Rhine, Pfund added: "And we have of course the hipsters who understand that you can wear a pair of cool lederhosen with T-shirts and Chucks."