Steinholding to Gain Statewide Significance at 2025 Great Northwest Oktoberfest in Whitefish
Although the annual event's Alberta-based polka band was forced to cancel due to a months-long delay securing work visas, the debut of a U.S. Steinholding Association Montana State Championship should add excitement
By Mike Kordenbrock
With the arrival of October, Whitefish is once again set to play host to the Great Northwest Oktoberfest and all the steinholding, chicken dancing, keg hurling, sausage eating and beer drinking it entails.
This year’s two-week festival, put on courtesy of the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, is set to begin on Thursday, Oct. 2 with Local’s Night, which means that Flathead residents get in free.
The festival will run at Depot Park in downtown Whitefish from Oct. 2 through Oct. 4 and then from Oct. 9 through Oct. 11. There will also be an Oct. 8 Hop Queen qualifier competition for the festival’s annual Hop Queen pageant on Oct. 8 at the Grouse Mountain Lodge.
Much of what locals have come to know and love about the festival will be largely the same this year, with a few exceptions.
“Our philosophy is, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And we’ve been seeing record crowds out there for the last six or seven years. Actually almost every year since it started,” Whitefish Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kevin Gartland said. “It gets bigger and bigger every year. So we’re looking forward to hopefully some good fall weather and a good turnout again.”
One notable change to the schedule of events involves the week-one music lineup, which will be a little different than in years past. Gartland said that the Jordan Rody Band, a five-piece polka band from Alberta, Canada, could not get a work visa issued in time to play the festival. According to Gartland, the permit the band applied for typically takes somewhere between 75 and 90 days for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to approve. Gartland said the band applied back in January and was still waiting when the festival finally decided they had to make alternate plans before formally pulling the plug on Sept. 22.
As a result, the first week’s musical lineup will consist of a mix of local acts taking the main stage, including Bavarian Echoes, the MAC Band (playing as the MACtoberfest Band), Accordion Bob and a brass band called The Hungry Five.
The Great Northwest Oktoberfest is also bringing back its two-person log sawing competitions. The event had been on hiatus for several years because of issues with insurance coverage, but according to Gartland the insurance issue been sorted out and log sawing is back on the agenda.
Another festival change that could bring even more excitement to the main stage is the introduction of a U.S. Steinholding Association Montana State Championship, which will offer local winners a chance to compete against the winners of steinholding competitions at Germanfest in Missoula and at Lewis and Clark Brewing in Helena. It’s the first year Montana has had a statewide steinholding competition under the U.S. Steinholding Association.
In years past, the Whitefish Oktoberfest was a Hofbräu qualifying event, which invited winners from the steinholding competitions held throughout the festival to compete at the end to become festival champion, and earn a chance to go on to a regional event. Whitefish Oktoberfest has sent a number of competitors over the years to Hofbrau regional competitions and beyond.
This year’s winners will also have a chance to advance to the U.S. Steinholding Association’s national championship held in Cincinnati in November, with the association offering to reimburse travel feels.
Jim Banko, the U.S. Steinholding Association’s commissioner and founder, said that he got his start doing Hofbräu competitions, and won its national championship in 2015. He also remains involved in their competitive circuit as a judge. He founded the U.S. Steinholding Association in 2015 as a way of growing the sport and remaining involved. His organization has expanded steadily over the years, and now has state championships in 15 states.
Hofbräu has a one-and-done policy for champions, and so one of the things that Banko is excited about with the U.S. Steinholding Association championship this year is the chance for champions from years past to potentially go head-to-head against each other.
That just might include the Flathead Valley’s own steinholding celebrity Dave Sturzen. An x-ray technologist who lives in Kalispell, Sturzen won the Hofbrau national championship in 2022, and also notched a 2024 steinholding exhibition win against Mitchell Hooper, the 2023 World’s Strongest Man winner. Sturzen said that he turned down an offer to defend his title in Denver this year so that he could be available for the Montana competition.
As for the beer that will be filling steins this year, The Great Northwest Oktoberfest will have a selection of regional and German beers on tap. Hofbräu beers will include its Oktoberfest, dunkel, original lager and hefeweizen. Beers from Bayern Brewery in Missoula will include the Bayern Oktoberfest, Montana Original Light Lager, St. Walter Hefeweizen and pilsener lager. The festival will also be selling wine, hard seltzer, non-acoholic beer, cider, water and soda.
Food vendors include Piggyback BBQ, The Sausage Queen, ZapoTaco, Piroshki Palace, Knucklehed BBQ, The Corndog House, Flathead Bubbles & Boba, Dave’s Gelato and Sodalightful.
Admission is $10, and kids 12 and under get in free when accompanied by a parent.
The festival goes from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, and from noon to 11 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information, go to whitefishoktoberfest.com.