Oktoberfest in GA

This past weekend we thought we'd take a day trip to the North Georgia mountains to visit Helen GA. We'd heard about this small town that revitalized its economy in the 1970s by adopting a sister city in Germany and rebuilding itself as a Bavarian village. Every year, they have a big Oktoberfest and so we thought we might check it out.

We left Atlanta pretty early in the morning so that we could get a full day and have time for a hike at some nearby trails. We arrived in Helen around 10:30 before the crowds really got going. Like most mountain towns, there was one road in to Helen, and the whole town stretches along it, with the main thoroughfare being only about 3 blocks long.

At first, when we crested the first hill and began to enter the town, I was pretty upset. It looked like most of the hotels had been "restored" by just slapping some wood beams over the siding to give it a cottage like look. The first few blocks were not very impressive... but eventually we got to the main street section and were relieved. Just over the Chattahoochee River the old section began. There were several Beer garden restaurants with outdoor seating situated on either side of the river (below). Once we passed those, we were in the main retail district, with cute little shops and restaurants on either side of the street. There were carriage rides and a little mini amphitheater for outdoor concerts. It looked pretty cute...
We parked set out to take a closer look. Our first stop was a really nice, pretty authentic, gift shop. We saw the German steins, coo-coo clocks, nutcrackers, pewter mugs etc. The shop keepers were even dressed in costume and looked like they walked out of the Sound of Music. Then we decided to move onto the next shop, and this is where we started to notice some things that were a little... off. For example, right across the street I noticed another shop opening up, I looked for his sign and was surprised to read: Live Tarantula Exhibit. A little weird we thought, but we moved on past the Hansel and Gretel Candy Factory to the next shop. It quickly became apparent that this cute little town, while cute, was a little like walking around the state fair.

Slowly, as the streets filled up with all kinds of strange characters I definitely got the feeling this place would best be described as a cross between Busch Gardens and Sturgis. You be the judge. Here's a little sample of the stores we passed: Quilt Shop, Das 1st Leather (biking gear), Christmas Shop, Fudge Shop, Heavenly Bound Tattoo Parlor and Body Piercings... etc. It certainly made for an entertaining afternoon. We had bratwursts and then got some fudge and decided to call it an afternoon. On the way out though, the bands were playing and the beer gardens were getting packed. There was actually a 2 mile long line of cars trying to get into town as we were leaving that one little road. What an experience! Let us know if you want to check it out next time you're in town.