Donning Lederhosen and serving German classics, Peace Lutheran Church in Conway, Arkansas drew crowds from the church and community to their Oktoberfest celebration Oct. 25. 

Although the church is located in Conway, less than a mile from UCA’s campus, Melanie Lenser, one of the event’s organizers, said that many members of the Lutheran Church come from German backgrounds. 

“A lot of Lutherans, which, this is a Lutheran Church, have German backgrounds,” Lenser said. “Martin Luther, who was German, is the one who started the church.”

Karl Lenser, who donned the traditional Lederhosen and helped greet attendees at the door, said that he grew up around these types of events.

“[Melanie and I] are from Wisconsin, which, there’s a lot of people with German and Norwegian backgrounds,” Karl Lenser said.

The event featured a variety of traditional German foods, including bratwurst, sweet and sour cabbage, German potato salad, pretzels and a variety of apple desserts.

“[German potato salad] is different from [American] potato salad because it doesn’t have mayonnaise in it,” Melanie Lenser said. “It’s sugar and vinegar, along with potatoes.”

Lenser said, “We have the bratwurst, though a lot of kids don’t like bratwurst, so we have hot dogs too.”

Each apple dessert that was brought by participants was entered into a contest, where attendees tasted each dessert and placed a vote for their favorite dessert that was offered. 

“The food is really good,” Melanie Lenser said. “I enjoy the German food because that’s not something we get up and make every day ourselves.”

In addition to food items, the event offered hat-decorating, a coloring booth and games, which many of the children in attendance took advantage of.

A live band, featuring a drumset, acoustic and electric guitars, and an accordion. 

While the band was initially playing covers of classic American favorites such as Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” they started to move into more traditional Oktoberfest music later in the event, as more attendees had finished their food and cast their vote for their favorite apple desserts.

One of these songs was “Der Ententanz,” more commonly known in the United States as “The Chicken Dance.”

When the band played “Der Ententanz,” several attendees joined organizer Jenny Bruenger as well as Melanie and Karl Lenser in a circle and to do the chicken dance together.

“We think about how many people are going to come, is it going to be a good, successful event or not, you always worry about that,” Melanie Lenser said.

Although it was advertised that tickets would cost seven dollars, free tickets were given to students.

“This is not really a fundraiser,” Melanie Lenser said. “We have several international students who came and got to eat for free because we just want to get people in the community [to attend].”

Melanie Lenser said that it was more important for the event to draw in members of the Conway community rather than to make money for the church.

“That’s kind of our goal, is to get people in the community [to attend] so we advertised,” Melanie Lenser said. “If we look around, there [are] several faces we don’t recognize. And then we invited everyone to invite their friends too.”