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Oktoberfest Noblemeisters & Burpenfartzen Brothers

September 2, 2007

My family has a small cottage in the Outer Banks of NC that just getting to is an adventure in itself. First, drive thirty minutes south by truck and boat trailer, second, launch the boat and third, seven additional minutes east across the low water of Back Bay. North wind low water / South wind high water. Arriving back on the mainland from Carova was always a bit a relief. Sometimes you kiss the shore upon making it across through the mill foil, heavy fog, and duck blinds.

Driving back after one particular interesting trip my cell phone rang on the county road home, you know the scenario, no towers / bad reception. For the next 10 miles I struggled to have a conversation with Gregg Christoffersen (Noblemen) about some sort of affiliation he had with some close friends of his. He wanted to set up a meeting to talk about it. With the poor phone reception, it was difficult to make out what Gregg was talking about. It sounded something like burping and farting. Of course I agreed to the meeting.

We decided to meet at John Koehler’s house at the Northend of Va. Beach. The home was cool and eclectic with a large balcony over looking a long driveway and nicely landscaped yard.

There were four guys present and they were all drinking beer from large exotic mugs of German persuasion. They each introduced themselves first by their regular names and then by their German names, which were more entertaining almost as much as the name of the brotherhood. They called themselves The Burpenfartzen Brothers and their mission was to throw the best Oktoberfest Celebrations in South Hampton Roads. I was lead through a gallery of posters and memorabilia that quickly lead me to believe these guys were very serious about Oktoberfest and not much else.

Every year around the beginning of October the brothers would celebrate Oktoberfest usually at Koehler’s house much to the dismay of his wife. Something to do with cleanup and landscaping that was difficult for us to understand; however John did understand he liked being married.

The planning was extensive and entailed elaborate clothing including lederhosen and dirndls. Every year a new poster would be developed that would include the brothers in some sort of compromising positions always doing something around drinking beer. These posters have received numerous recognitions including an Addy award.

Food, beer, music were also discussed in great detail…excuse me I mean Beer, food and music (wrong order) One of the brothers, “Jorgy” was a chef at a local eatery as well as a food broker. He carefully selects the authentic Oktoberfest cuisine each year. When learning that our group had a large pig cooker, Jorgy decided this would be a good year to cook an authentic German pig to add to the fabulous array of brats and pretzels. He came out to Sherwood farms to learn the intricacies of using our propane cooker. The night prior to our first partnership Jorgy and his cooking prowess had a slight problem with ignition and propane. Jorgy was incinerated prior to competing his cooking assignment. John Koehler took him to the hospital and then promptly made fun of him the entire next day displaying his burned lederhosen on his pet skeleton. Come on, what’s a brother to do? Jorgy was fine after a few days in the hospital!

Michael Charles, “Manfred” is in charge of the beer. Manfred always selects a special “Oktoberfest Brew” for each year and then filled in the gaps with local microbrewery beers. Music is provided by several bands, first an authentic German Oompa band (sounds like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, oompa loompas) along with a more normal band to play for the adults after the kids go home.

Tom Wagner, “Tuborg” is in charge of tents, lighting, flags and all things festive. He warehouses and constantly looks for new ways to take the event to the next level.

Another very important part of the Oktoberfest celebration is the selection of Bierfraus. This is typically an enthusiastic group of cool ladies that love Oktoberfest almost as much as the Burpenfartzen Brothers. These ladies dress up like St. Pauley Girls with their dirndls and carry around large German mugs of cold beer. They essentially join the brothers and become hosts, taking on the responsibility of making sure everyone was having a good time, we were on schedule, and things were running smooth.

The Brothers are big on schedules and keeping busy, I would assume that comes from their childhood ADD problems, however I could be wrong. Just about every 15 minutes there is another event starting, or some sort of competition.

Gregg Christoffersen, “Greggor” is in charge of kid’s games, and the famous parade as well as more adult competitions. Kids games start promptly about a soon as the party starts. One of the reasons this party works so well is it is truly a family event. Everyone comes with their kids as well as the neighbor’s kids and a few nobody knows that are later adopted. (kidding)

The Poster

Over the many years prior to the partnership between RHVB/Noblemen and Burpenfartzen Brothers, hard work and dedication went into designing every year’s Oktoberfest Poster. These posters ranged from Dachshunds jumping out of airplanes complete with their own parachutes to the Brothers all standing nude with a large beer stein in front of what make them men. All collector’s items I’m sure. The Brothers were also kind enough to include “yours truly” in two of the latest as I was privileged to put in compromising positions to help kids. This year's poster was created by our official Noblemen photographer Marcus Holman and should prove to be as memorable as those in the past!

Why it works…

Over the years of running this organization I have been approached by many other organizations about “partnering”. In the beginning I readily accepted hoping to gain knowledge and inspire new people to the concept of fundraising. Some worked, some failed and none stood the test of time. The reason – lack of passion or shared agenda. There are so many local organizations that are up to one thing or another in this town competing for clever events that raise money for their particular agendas. Most possessing a track record of OK parties knowing the next will be their biggest. They learn of our reputation and approach us for our ticket selling ability. Most have already designed their party/event they simply want us to sell it out for them. The Burpenfartzen Brothers were passionate and willing to do the heavy lifting. They understood that introducing another large party into the mix of what we were already doing successfully would take a sales job. So they all joined the ranks of our group and started to infiltrate their unique abilities into every other event we throw. The Brothers became Noble!

The Fourth Year

Oktoberfest 2006 was the year that we finally meshed the two organizations into one. Planning started early and it was our goal to make this Oktoberfest the largest money maker to date. We established a wonderful partnership with Boars Head Meats who supplied our wonderful brats and sausages. We worked out special deals with great beer vendors, as well as looked within our group for musical talent and better sound infrastructure.

Noblemeisters / Burpenfartzen Brothers

It just wasn’t fair that the Brothers and the Bierfraus were the only ones with the stupid costumes so Koehler came up with Noblemeisters in order to create a new identity for those Noblemen that wished to step up to the plate and buy lederhosen and share the stage. Sources were found and at least a dozen or so Noblemen made attempt to become German for a day, myself included along with my sidekick Paul Thatcher, formally Friar Tuck.

Oceana invitation

If this Oktoberfest were to grow as large as we dreamed about, John would need to buy a larger house or at least a larger yard. Our vision with this Oktoberfest was to make it an event for the Region. We even approached the Major of Virginia Beach asking for an official endorsement for the Noblemen’s Oktoberfest.

The Noblemen as well as the Burpenfartzen brothers have strong ties with the local Military. One of our beerfraus, Laurie works with MWR (Morale Warfare Recreation) this is the division of the Navy that handles all recreational as well as ….places to party.

Laurie had suggested we approach the Commander of the local Master Jet Base, Oceana. Oceana had a huge field right in front of the base that did not require Military ID to enter. The field had restrooms, a place for a stage as well as a large parking lot. Perfect…time to smooze with the Top Brass. We invited Captain Lorge “Boog” to have a beer with us off the base. He was asked to bring whatever entourage he needed to muster in order to get this done!

We gathered the Burpenfartzen Brothers as well as a few notable Noblemen, Timmy Clary, board member, Capt. John Andrews, Ret. Cmdr Bruce Doyle “Dog”.

The meeting was set at Hilltop off base in Virginia Beach. I got their early to pre-purchase a mountain of appetizers, secure a secluded large table and ask our waitress for great service and plenty of cold beer.

Our guests arrived with their own entourage of Commanders as well as JAG officers. By golly it was time to get down to planning a party. At the end of the night the officers on both sides were sharing old stories and Oceana became a Noble Base. We were in!

Miracle at Oceana - 2006

The forecast for our Oktoberfest weekend began to erode early in the week. The local weathermen were calling for a coastal storm with strong winds and heavy rain. Perfect for an outdoor event of over 1000 people. All food & beer we ordered and we made the decision that we were all in.

Several of us appeared on local news shows to promote the event. Often the weathermen were on the set and wished us well knowing that unless beerfraus mud wrestling was the cornerstone of our Oktoberfest we were DONE!

The day and night prior to the event was spent securing tents when they blew away and adding sand to low spots and small and large prayers to convince the emerging system to steer out to sea. Where is Pat Robertson when you need him?

I was receiving about 20 calls an hour either by people that had bought tickets or setup vendors concerned about their equipment. We all put our game faces on and declared WE AINT AFRAID OF NO STINKIN NOR’EASTER. BRING IT ON. We were there to help kids.

I arose early the morning of Oktoberfest to do one more news show with my good friend and fellow Noblemen, Paul Thatcher. We were dressed in newly purchased lederhosen and I have to say we looked pretty good. The news station was almost under water due to flooding around the stations as a result of the storm. The gentlemen interviewing us, Andy Fox jokingly referred to it as Lake Wavy for Wavy TV Channel 10. We proclaimed to the listening audience that since everything local was being canceled due to the Coastal Storm the only thing to do was to attend our Oktoberfest!

I drove back to the farm to gather supplies and headed back to Oceana not knowing what the day would bring. Upon arriving shortly after 8:00 AM, I was surprised to find the field fairly dry and it was not currently raining at all. The phone calls started and I told everyone we were on and I was wearing sunglasses! We had survived the day. The Commander arrived early with his motorcade and our head ticket taker Timmy Miller removed the barricades and laid a huge kiss on the Commander’s cheek and welcomed him in. I was not sure how he would react; however a large smile emerged and we dodged another bullet. Timmy’s impromptu kiss set the mood and Koehler and I stood there and welcomed everyone that showed with enthusiasm and appreciation. We pulled it off and made $7000.00 to spare. Anyone need any German mustard or sauerkraut?  

Oktoberfest 2007

 Please join us this year on October 6th @ Oceana’s main gate. Tickets are available on this website. Help us Be a Part of the Solution in Hampton Roads…