Oktoberfest — Local services in Tulsa

This is my favorite Tulsa festival to attend. Here are a few pro tips.

Attend Corporate Night, if you can get a ticket. Corporate night is a great time to experience the festival without all of the crowds.

Getting to the festival. If you plan on drinking. Uber or Lyft to a festival shuttle location. This will save you from paying surcharge prices for pickup or drop off at the festival grounds. Always use the shuttle service. It is free to ride and your drop off spot is right at the main entrance. Always use the restroom before leaving the festival. This will make your ride home more pleasant.

Bring Cash. The cash lines for festival money move SO much faster than the credit card lines. Yes you must purchase festival money to buy food and drink inside the park. I generally purchase $50 at a time. The food is pricey so plan accordingly.

Beer Stein. Save your money and buy the 1/2 liter. The stein is plastic and will not keep your beer cold. If you drink fast or enjoy warm beer, buy the full size stein. The 1/2 liter downfall means you have to wait in a beer line more often.

Let’s talk beer lines. Holy Cow! This year (2018) I attended the festival on a Saturday. We arrived at 7pm and left around 11pm. In the four hours, I would imagine we spent a good hour and a half of that time waiting in various beer or food lines. Saturday night is VERY busy and you will need to wait for your next refill. The festival has grown their selection of available beers, but it seems that I kept hearing, “We are out of that”, a lot! So while waiting in line, be thinking of what backups you might want to drink. Be courteous and have your festival money, ID, and drink selection ready. When it is your turn, you will get speedy service and keep the line moving.

Having attended multiple years of this festival. Try to attend on Friday night. The crowds are not as intense. If it has rained during the festival. Wear boots!! The mud will be everywhere so wear boots. Always eat something before you drink. This will keep you from making a fool of yourself later. Dress in layers. The weather in October is unpredictable in Oklahoma. Always take a buddy with you when you have to use the restroom. That way you have someone to hold your beer or jacket or purse or bag while you pee. The lines for the port-a-potty are long, so plan accordingly. Bring a pocket size bottle of hand sanitizer so you have a way of washing your hands after you pee.

If you are going to venture over to the carnival rides, always ride them before consuming massive amounts of beer. Beer and spinning carnival rides do not mix well.

Visit the craft and vendor booths on your way out of the festival. You do not want to have to carry anything around while getting through the crowds.

Enjoy the music. Every tent has something different to enjoy. Do not be afraid to stand on the table and sing along. It is perfectly normal. Just watch your step!

Be patient and be friendly. Everyone is there to have a good time. If you are going with a big group of people, always have a meet up spot. It makes it easier to find each other.

Hope this information...

Love the atmosphere and event in general. Vendors do their part to add to the overall experience. Great beer and entertainment. The city of Tulsa has a gem. Everyone's effort pays off and it shows. I would like a tent or spot where people can chill, drink, and speak German. Maybe the GAST can be provided a location for this. Lufthansa, Spaten, Wahrsteiner, and Pauleiner tents had amazing events. Thanks again and on to the bad news

I would not pay for the Himmel Restaurant. The service was disjointed and confused. The Gurkensalat was petite in size. The cucumber was sliced so then that it was difficult to get it stabbed by the plastic fork. A thicker cut would rectify this and preserve the crunch. The chicken Braut was not braten, it's a texture thing. If you fill out that someone in your party has a nut allergy and at your table you notify the Kellnerin then you should never ever receive a slice of Strudel with a nut.

The security needs to do more to kick out the teenage punks throwing pennies in people's 20 dollar beers or women's cleavage. A uniformed "officer" stood there a listened, no action was taken by him or any other staff member. This made our experiences sour and I took it upon myself to confront them. Not what...

Went last weekend. Man what a scam, $20 parking, $10 for a beer (at a beer festival?), even food was significantly more expensive then the county fair. Apart from that, ended up with a pretty sour experience due to me (and several other folks) having their pocket knives stolen by event staff - metal detectors and shakedown at the entrance like its the entrance to the pentagon. And absolutely NO pocket knives allowed! Which would have been nice to know before hand, considering this is Oklahoma and almost everybody has a pocket knife. But ok, so myself and other likeminded people simply hid them out of the way well before the entrance, since its like a 30 minute walk there and back to parking. Come to find the OktoberFest staff holding the event called in police to "sweep the area" and threw everyone's knives in the trash. Outstanding work gentlemen thank you for your service! Edit - there was one lady police officer there (manning the little lookout tower before the entrance) who was extremely helpful and actually tried to get to the bottom of the issue. It seems event staff are really the ones who instigated this, or at least, did not come up with a...