Helen Oktoberfest — Local services in Helen

Sept. 21, 2018 8:00pm Three of my friends and I went to Helen Oktoberfest for a birthday weekend (3 females and one guy all in our 40's). We drove 5 hours to get there. We put on our dirndls and were so excited to go to Festhall to dance so this is the very first place we went to. We paid a cover of $10 per person. Nothing impressive in there at all. There were about maybe 40 people in the entire place. It's a big space with rows of picnic style tables, and bright white light. We found a spot to sit near the dance floor, and ordered food. There was a band playing polka, and mostly kids dancing. One of my friends and I both smoke tobacco on vapes/ecig -no odor or smoke whatsoever. We were seating down at the table minding our business and out of nowhere a security staff person (dark, long hair female and if I am not mistaken her name is Ruth) came by to tell us that vaping is not allowed. I put my vape in my purse immediately. My friend placed hers on the table. We ordered food which was like a subpar cafeteria food of sausages and potatoes for $12 and a carafe of beer was $17. I stood up to go to the bathroom and I see the security woman is standing right behind us. I thought nothing of it. As we are finishing our meal my friend completely forgot and took one puff off her vape. Within seconds the security woman suddenly jumps over and as the rest of us are still chewing our food, she placed her fists on the table like an angry silver back gorilla. Loud polka music is playing and we are all confused looking at her as she is screaming something and pounding her fists on the table. I thought she had come to tell my friend to put the ecig away. So I tell the security woman as I chew my food that we are sorry and the ecig will be put away now. At this moment this overly dramatic, angry female pushes the radio button on her shoulder and says "I need help!!!!" Y'all...she was asking for backup?!?! While we are there literally sitting and chewing on our dinner! We understand at this moment that we are being kicked out. We stood up and she had the nerve to escort us to the exit basically walking just one step behind us. There was no argument, no cursing, no indecent anything or illegal that warranted this treatment towards us. I am still baffled about it. I have to say I have never heard of anyone being ever kicked out of a place while sitting down and eating a meal in silence. Yes, my friend was warned once over the vaping. But this is a tourist place. A second and final warning would have been the right way to treat guests. We just paid a total of $40 plus food and drinks to walk in this highly overrated place and were kicked out in less than an hour for one puff of an ecig. Of course they didnt offer a refund of the cover we just paid and we were too confused to even think about asking for a refund. I asked about this woman and they mostly rolled their eyes and smacked their lips after seeing the overly aggressive treatment we received from this woman. The kicker is that when we walked outside the building the real police was just pulling in! Absolutely unnecessary. So unless you are interested in sitting in picnic tables, have a mediocre meal, be treated like garbage and share the dance floor with five year olds, I do not recommend anyone to ever visit this tacky place. Your experience of Oktoberfest will not be what you imagine it will be. Save your dollars and go somewhere else, there is no shortage of polka and chicken...

I can see why this is the biggest and longest running Octoberfest in America. The most traditional version is definitely Festhalle. There is a cover fee for the polja music. However, don't let the music run you away because the best food in town, and the best deal on beer, is at Festhalle. They have the best kraut, best red cabbage, and best leiberkase. Buy beer in pitchers...it's the best deal in town.

The locals say Hurricanes Helene and Miltin caused the festivsl this year to be about a fourth of what it usually is. All I could say was "thank God for that!" The parking was atrocious and the wait times were usually 45 minutes. I would hate to be there when it was at normal levels...would make Disney World look tame.

Helen, in general, is a weird town. They go overboard in embracing their German heritage ... to the point that all buildings must look German, street names are in German, and all police vehicles have the German spelling for police with some having German flags on them. It can be a bit much!

There appears to be a battle between two Octoberfests with traditionalists being on the Festhalle side of the bridge and the non-traditionalists being on the other side...which I fi d troubling. Festhalle seemed more like "Heaven's waiting room" with almost all white headed old folks. The other side of the bridge was mostly yound folks. The city, if they don't do something now, will have issues making Octoberfest relevant to a younger demographic.

When visiting Helen, realize that prices are crazy high. Whatever your proposed budget is, go ahead and triple it. Expect slow and disengaged wait staff at restaurants. Expect to walk everywhere and pay ungodly high prices for parking.

Another issue is that you won't find much authentic hand crafted items in the numerous shops. It is all either cheap Chinese made junk sold as "authentic" for four, five, six, or more times their online price (i.e., so-called German hats, made in China, sell in Helen stores for anywhere from $60-$100 when Amazon sells the same items for $10-$20). They really don't embrace local producers. In fact, I was looking for a local brewery and couldn't find one. Had one existed, I don't think they'd been given the time of day. The city seems hyper-focused in perceptions of Germanness rather than quality...which is problematic.

Still, it is a fun event. It made me want to come back...

My sister and I recently visited Helen Ga, mainly for Oktoberfest and we were extremely disappointed in the whole experience. There is nothing authentically German about Helen. It’s an overrated tourist trap with junky shops. We were hoping to find some nice shops with German products….nada! Even the restaurants were not up to our standards, except for The Old Bavarian Inn which we found in an ally way. We both had spent several years in Germany, and at this inn we felt like we were sitting in a German Gasthaus. Wish we had found it sooner and not at the end of our visit! Food was great and we finally heard German music! As for the Oktoberfest at the Festhall—- music was not that great. There Were 2 bands and minimal German music. If I wanted to hear Elvis tunes I’d go to Graceland; if I wanted to hear Everly brothers tunes I’d go to Branson..you get the drift, Oktoberfest is for oompah music and bier! Not an impressive fest at all. Our main reason for going to Helen was to hear The Happy Players who we loved listening to at the Tulsa Oktoberfest last year; but their scheduled in Helen had changed after we had secured our reservations. The Happy Players are super and even better than any German band made up of old German men😂….these young kids know how to play some good bier drinking music! Hope we have better luck next year...