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Arts&Entertainment
With heavy steins held out at arms length, competitors test their strength and will during the stein-holding event. BEACON FILE PHOTO
Bavarian Fun, Montana Style Great Northwest Oktoberfest returns to White sh for its seventh year
BY JUSTIN FRANZ OF THE BEACON
A few years ago, Kevin Collom was at the Great Northwest Oktoberfest in White sh watching the stein-holding contests when his wife urged him to get on stage and give it a try.
Unbeknownst to Collom, it would be the beginning of his reign as one of the greatest stein holders in the West. Col- lom will be defending that honor in the coming days during the seventh annual
Oktoberfest, which runs from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 and Oct. 6 to Oct. 8 in White sh’s Depot Park. The traditional German cele- bration of autumn includes games, music, food and an endless number of beer- lled steins.
Last year, White sh’s Oktoberfest partnered with the Ho rauhaus Brew- ery in Munich, Germany to hold an o - cially sanctioned stein-holding contest. Collom, a local plasterer, won the com- petition and earned a ticket to Las Vegas
for the national semi nals. Earlier this year, Collom emerged from a crowded eld of competitors in Las Vegas by hold- ing an over owing stein for more than eight minutes and earning a spot in the national championship in New York City.
Collom failed to win in New York — where he held a ve-pound stein for 13 minutes — but said he’s ready to defend his crown in White sh in hopes of going back next year. Despite that goal, Collom isn’t doing a lot of preparation.
“I go to work, do my job and that pretty much keeps my arm in shape,” he said, adding that plastering walls works a lot of the muscles needed to straight-arm a stein. “My workout regimen is pretty lax.”
Collom’s best advice to potential com- petitors is to “be stubborn.”
“You’ve got to work through that pain,” he said. “My arm usually starts to hurt after three minutes, so I start to think about something else besides the
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SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM