 "Photo: Chelsy Lueth")
Little Texas, a country rock band that originated in Nashville, Tenn., took the stage Thursday night, kicking off Fort Riley’s third annual Oktoberfest.
Soldiers, veterans of the military, their families and civilians attended the concert. Little Texas performed songs from its 20-year history, including its first single in 1988 called “Some Guys Have All the Luck.”
The band performed under a massive tent set up to allow audience members to watch the group without worrying about rain and 42-degree weather.
The band also performed a song it was invited to play as a cover for The Eagles called “Peaceful Easy Feeling.” The five members of the band used a variety of effects, including lights of blue, yellow, violet and orange. The group showed its appreciation for the soldiers through the entire night, even allowing Pfc. Kenny Eatinger to come up and sing “God Bless Texas” with them.
Eatinger said he enjoyed that the most about the show because he had grown up listening to the band.
“I’ve been a Little Texas fan since I was two,” Eatinger said, member of Delta Company in the 163rd Cavalry Regiment. “It was a real pleasure seeing them tonight, especially getting up on the stage there with them.”
Maj. Gen. Vincent Brooks, Commander of the 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley, attended the event with his family and said he enjoyed the concert.
“I was glad we had a good turnout tonight, even though the weather went bad,” Brooks said. “People are back home, they’re home from Iraq and they want to celebrate, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here tonight.”
Jeremy Latchaw, reservist from Manhattan, said he came to Oktoberfest specifically to see Little Texas perform because he had been a fan for about ten years. Latchaw said the cold weather made him think a little more about attending the concert, but he came anyway because he figured the temperature would keep the audience small.
Latchaw also said he was a little surprised the audience was so small because of how long Little Texas has been around and how popular they have been.
After the concert, Little Texas was available to sign autographs and talk with fans. The group sold CDs, T-shirts, hats and posters.
Oktoberfest took place Thursday, Friday and Saturday, in front of Rally Point at Fort Riley. The festival had a variety of common carnival attractions for attendees of the event, like boardwalk bowling.
Oktoberfest also featured food from local venders, like Papa John’s, and foreign venders like homemade, authentic bratwursts sold by Erika Brasch.
Brasch, owner of Erika’s Bratwurst, said she has been selling bratwursts for 23 years and enjoys coming out to events such as this whenever invited.
“It’s fun because you meet a lot of nice people,” Brasch said.
Brasch said she makes her brats by hand with about three-fourths of each brat being pork and the last fourth being beef. She sells bratwursts with Sauerkraut, a cabbage mixture, as well as without toppings.
While last year’s Oktoberfest drew more than 10,000 people, this year’s crowds were smaller because of the weather.
Bill Lawson, vender from Ohio, said he was upset about the weather.
“It sucks,” Lawson said about Friday. “This is the coldest day in probably four or five years that we’ve had to play.”
Darren Gertsen, ticket operations executive for the Kansas City Wizards soccer team, said he wished the weather would have cooperated a little better so more families might have attended.
However, Lawson and Gertsen both said they did enjoy the event because of the atmosphere the soldiers brought with them.
“It’s better on the base because soldiers and everybody out here seem to have a more fun attitude, and they’re friendlier,” Lawson said. “They seem to enjoy being out with their families more.”
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