U.S. Steinholding Association<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe festival\u2019s free qualifying round is Saturday, Oct. 3, at 6 p.m., with check-in at 5:30 p.m. Top finishers advance to the finals, and competitors must register ahead of time. Winners of qualifying rounds at breweries and festivals across Pennsylvania also earn spots in the finals, the association said.<\/p>\n
Both the qualifier and the championship are open to those 21 and older.<\/p>\n
Other contests include:<\/p>\n
Flip cup tournament: The second annual Fliplehem tournament, presented by D.G. Yuengling & Son, runs Oct. 2 and Oct. 9. Players must be 21 or older, and each member of the winning team receives a $50 ArtsQuest gift card.<\/p>\n
Bratwurst eating contest: The Karl Ehmer Bratwurst Eating Competition is Sunday, Oct. 11, at 5 p.m. in the Yuengling Tent. Contestants 18 and older race to finish 10 bratwursts, without buns, and must keep them down for two minutes. The winner receives $250.<\/p>\n
Yuengling Oktoberfest 5K: The race, held with Run Lehigh Valley, marks its 12th year Sunday, Oct. 4, at 10:30 a.m. Finishers receive a 22-ounce mug of Yuengling Oktoberfest or root beer. Preregistration is required.<\/p>\n
Wiener dog races and pup parades<\/p>\n
The wiener dog races return to the Oktoberfest Arena both weekends, at 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, with an additional race at 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays. Purebred dachshunds, dachshund mixes, and similar dogs under 25 pounds are eligible, and owners must register in advance.<\/p>\n
A pup parade, open to dogs of any breed, is held every Saturday and Sunday. Participation is free, and owners can sign up at the Oktoberfest Arena starting at noon on parade days.<\/p>\n
Food, beer and entertainment<\/p>\n
The festival\u2019s four biergartens will pour Hofbr\u00e4u, Samuel Adams, Dogfish Head, Spaten and Yuengling beers, among others. Visitors can bring a Musikfest mug or buy an Oktoberfest mug.<\/p>\n
A four-course Yuengling beer dinner is set for Saturday, Oct. 3, at 5 p.m. in the Fowler Blast Furnace Room at the ArtsQuest Center. Each course is paired with a Yuengling beer, and a Yuengling brewer will discuss the brewing process. The ticketed dinner is open to those 21 and older.<\/p>\n
Food vendors include Karl Ehmer, Bacon on a Stick, Grumpy\u2019s BBQ, Heaven on a Bun, and Island Expressions\/Heidi\u2019s Strudel. Humpty\u2019s Dumplings will be on site Oct. 3-4 only, and Slide On By will be there Oct. 10-11 only.<\/p>\n
Scheduled musical acts include Fritz\u2019s Polka Band, Polkadelphia, South Penn Dixie Trio, Zaire, Sam Houseal Band, Bavarian Kings and Sch\u00fctzengiggles Oompah Band. Schuhplattler dance groups GTV Almrausch, GTEV D\u2019Lustigen Isartaler and Almrausch Altoona will perform traditional Bavarian folk dances.<\/p>\n
Dragtoberfest, a free drag show for those 18 and older, runs 8:30 to 10 p.m. on Saturdays, Oct. 3 and Oct. 10. Former Miss Gay Pennsylvania Elektra Fearce St. James hosts it.<\/p>\n
Karaoke with Notorious S.Y.D. runs 8 to 10 p.m. Fridays, Oct. 2 and Oct. 9.<\/p>\n
Activities for children<\/p>\n
The Oktoberfest Hot Glass Experience lets participants ages 6 and older work one-on-one with an instructor to make a glass pumpkin or cat. Sessions last 20 minutes and begin at 5 p.m. on Fridays and at noon on Saturdays and Sundays.<\/p>\n
Finished pieces need 48 hours to cool, so participants must return to the festival to pick them up or pay to have them shipped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 ArtsQuest\u2019s Oktoberfest returns to SteelStacks for its 16th year next week, opening Friday, Oct. 2,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-291923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}