Celebrate German-American heritage on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015, with the annual Steuben Day Parade and an Oktoberfest in Central Park. The parade marches up Fifth Avenue, from 68th to 86th Streets starting at noon, with Oompah bands, marchers in traditional and colorful costumes including colorful Bavarian dirndls and lederhosen.
The Oktoberfest is in Rumsey Field, starting at 1:30 PM.
German-American Parade website.
Watch the parade for free, or purchase a $15 ticket for a grandstand seat.
Buy tickets for food and drink at the Oktoberfest in Central Park.
NYC on the Cheap editor Evelyn Kanter has been to the world’s largest Oktoberfest, in Munich, and the second largest, in Stuttgart. Read my article on the Stuttgart Canstetter Volksfest on sister website ecoXplorer.
These are some famous German-Americans who shaped US history and culture:
General Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian officer under Frederick the Great, who was sent to the US in 1777 to assist the newly formed Continental Army. Simply, he helped George Washington win the Revolutionary War.
John Peter Zenger, publisher of the New York Journal, who shaped American libel laws in the 1700s and is known as the father of Freedom of the Press
Levi Strauss, who added rivets to seams of denim trousers to make them sturdier for miners working the California Gold Rush of the 1800s
Gert Boyle, whose father founded the Columbia Sportswear Company, which she expanded into a global brand
John Jacob Astor, who named his first hotel after his hometown, Waldorf (which also happens to be the hometown of my maternal grandmother, who was neither rich nor famous)
Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior under Rutherford B. Hayes, honored by NYC with a park named for him
Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon’s Secretary of State
Ub Iwerks, who invented Mickey Mouse for his boss, Walt Disney
Siegfried & Roy, the renowned magicians from Las Vegas.
Entertainers with German roots include Doris Day, Sandra Bullock, Leonardo DiCaprio and Bruce Willis.
Prosit. Make mine a hefeweizen.
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