Oktoberfest 2008 at the Ala Moana Hotel

Do you do the chicken dance??

I must be the only person from the Western World who didn’t know the chicken dance.

Now I do…thanks to my good friend, Yolanda, who insisted we go to this year’s Oktoberfest at the Ala Moana Hotel. I was really tired as we headed out on the town. My plan was to have, “just one beer.” HA!

We arrived at the top of the escalators to the Ala Moana Hotel’s ballrooms that was bedecked in German tradition. We seemed to be the only ones there. Yawn, I was in for a boring evening...until Yolanda bought $50 worth of script for food and for our “pitchers” of beer and “shots.” Gulp. Onward ho…to experience my own culture that I know nothing about—Welcome to Germany in Hawaii.

About ten different German beers on tap were available, from the well knowns like Becks and Loewenbrau to Widmer. With our pitcher of Amber Bock, we entered the ballroom and were shocked to find it packed full of about 500 seated or dancing people, leaving us nowhere for us to sit.

The band playing Edelweiss seemed to have been sipping at pitchers already and the people on the dance floor were doing something akin to the square dance (must be the Polka). Others were doing the Cha Cha, the Salsa, and some German-Hispanic hybrid.



If you’ve been to an Oktoberfest, you know you are not allowed to just sit there. Between being beckoned to lift your glass and “brost” and act like a chicken on the dance floor, you also get to swap dance partners and watch people in blow-up St. Pauli Girl outfits shake their breasts at you.

Goldwasser, Rumple Minze, Jagermeister…you might know the rest of the names of the “Schnapps Bude” shots you’re encouraged to take. I collected a few of those little shot glasses around my neck, made chicken beaks with my hands, flapped my arms, did the chicken boogy to the floor, and talked with everyone at the table, while tasting an assortment of food: Brotwurst; sauerbraten, black forest cake, German potato salad, spaetzle (authentic German dumplings), pig knuckle. Yum!

Where: Hibiscus Ballroom 6 to 11 p.m.


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When: mid-October for a week


Cost of date: about $7 weeknights; $12 Friday and Saturday evenings: depends on how much beer you want to drink.

Do’s and Don’ts on this date: Do keep count of the number of shot glasses you hang around our neck. Do invite a bunch of friends…this is one of those dates that would be fun to share with a group.