Oktoberfest comes to the slopes of Snow Trails on Saturday, Oct. 18. The weekend festival features German beers, food and culture. Raemelton Therapeutic Equestrian Center (RTEC) will look to add another element to the celebration: charity. The center will host their second annual Oktoberfest at Snow Trails where all quintessentials of this holiday will be available.
The event is hosted by RTEC, a nonprofit organization devoted to providing therapeutic horse riding for handicapped individuals. The proceeds from Oktoberfest will go directly to the organization.
RTEC was established as a nonprofit organization 501c3 in 1995. They have been developing riding programs for handicapped children and adults since then, and are located on Frank Black’s 2000-acre Raemelton Farm. Today, the facility is found on 569 South Trimble Road in Mansfield.
On any given week, RTEC serves 80 children or adults with mental, physical, and emotional disabilities with their three programs: Therapeutic riding, therapeutic driving, and the CARE program. The organization keeps 14 horses.
The event will provide guests with authentic German food and desserts, dancers, shot girls, door prizes, a John Deer snow-blower, and beer straight from Germany. There will be a Bratwurst eating contest, live music from the Jimmy Warner Band and the DeVault Ridge Band, games, a 50/50 drawing, and horse drawn wagon rides.
Oktoberfest is considered to be the world’s largest festival and is held for 16 days in Munich, Germany. It has been held in Germany’s state of Bavaria since 1810. According to Mike Berry of Mansfield Distributing Company in Mansfield, the Spaten Oktoberfest beer was first served at the 1872 Oktoberfest, making it the World’s first Oktoberfest beer.
The Spaten Oktoberfest, St. Pauli Girl, and the Franziskaner Weissbier are the three Oktoberfest beers being served at the event this weekend. They will be available by the bottle. In the video below, Berry gives insight and facts about the beers.
This weekend’s event will take place at Snow Trails from 4 p.m. until midnight up in the ski lodge.
“This is pretty exciting around here,” said Program Coordinator Tara Corrigan while setting up the event on Wednesday afternoon. “We’re definitely looking forward to it.”
The RETC’s Oktoberfest entrance fee is $5, and ticketers will ask for proper identification. The first band, Jimmy Warner Band, will start playing at 5 p.m. and play until 8 p.m. DeVault Ridge Band will play from 9 p.m. to midnight.
For more information on Raemelton Therapeutic Equestrian Center, call 419-756-0040 or visit their website.
A contributed menu of the beer available at the Oktoberfest event on Saturday, October 18.