Brad Quarberg and Brian Rude in the WIZM studio talking Oktoberfest past and present, including how the fest wasn't just started to sell beer, the popularity of the buttons, two women as parade marshals and members lost the past year.
Quarberg was the 2016 Oktoberfest Parade Marshall and the Oktoberfest Board President back in 2001. He was also chief editor and one of the authors of the book, The Fest of Times, a look back on 50 years of Oktoberfest from back in 2010.
Rude was the 2017 Festmaster and is also the former Wisconsin state Senate president — though we only talked politics during the break.
This is the third year Quarberg has joined to talk about the history of Oktoberfest. Some of the other topics we rehashed from those shows was the year the medallion was held hostage, the year Oktoberfest didn't have beer and how controversial it would be if we picked Mrs. O like we did in the past.
Also joining the show was co-host Ken Cooper and WIZM's Brad Williams.