Rocktoberfest 2012, perhaps the worst event of the year, raises it's ugly head again this evening in Esplanade Park. We attended in 2010: and we now stand by the Mantra: Never Again.
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Rocktoberfest is a name used by organizations all over the country; its a very appealing compound word that implies music and beer and celebration. Or course you don't need a special occasion to justify drinking beer in Fort Lauderdale.
On Paper, Rocktoberfest sounds great. Beer samples, food and live music. How can you go wrong? So you have to wonder why nobody was there. Maybe its because the people that went last year know better.
Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that there was no "Oktoberfest" component at this event. No busty german girls, no ompa bands, no bratwurst or potato salad. The whole event was just poorly thought-out; a mish-mosh of food and craft beers which had nothing to do with the traditional german festivities.
At 6pm, you could hardly tell there was an event going on. By 6:25 there were a spattering of people.
I don't usually go for the VIP, but with the promise of "catered food" and "comfortable chairs" I thought it would be worth the extra $20. I figured maybe I'd run into some venue owners or beer company reps. Fat chance of that.
There was a tent set up where you could get beers and drinks; of course you could get beer at the street fair also. The seating area consisted of folding tables covered with black tablecloths and cheap folding chairs. This was our 'comfortable seating'. I suppose it was more comfortable than sitting on the ground.
I really do wonder who the caterer was for the VIP buffet. One tray had Briny's shepherd's pie, which I have no interest in eating for free or any other way, and a bunch of trays of deep fried choices.
I could have gotten better food than this at the Dicey Riley's happy hour; at least they have meatballs there. Would it really have been so difficult to cook up a bunch of wieners? This could have been so much better with a real Oktoberfest theme.
In the street in front of the Museum of Science and Discovery there was sort of a fair with a lot of different beers that you could sample in a little plastic cup you were given when you entered. There wasn't a whole lot of food; there was (of course) Briny's with their aforementioned shepherd's pie, Tarpon Band had some salmon tartar on a nacho, and Himmarshee had some concoction with coconut milk that I had zero interest in trying. The only decent food at the event, and I include the VIP food in that assessment, was at Jimmy John's table, where they had mini-subs with samples of their sandwiches. I had a Vito, which is an italian sub, which was my first chance of the evening to actually taste something. Its a pretty good little sandwich although not as messy and good as a loaded sub you get at a regular sub shop. It kept me from going completely hungry.
One bright spot in an otherwise gloomy event was the performance of Ghost of Gloria, a local band that is by far the best I've seen in quite a while.
Its too bad there was nobody there to see them play. Another bad Fort Lauderdale event by the Riverwalk Trust people. They seem to think that they can just say "its for charity" as a justification for these Crapfests. Well guess what? You can raise more money for charity by having events that people actually want to go to. And I'll bet they have the same, exact thing next year.