“C’mon, SAM. Why are you covering an Oktoberfest? Half the ski areas in the country put one on.” Not like this one, they don’t. Snowbird’s Oktoberfest is unique. It draws a crowd of more than 60,000 over nine weekends, from mid-August through early October.

Sure, Snowbird’s Oktoberfest serves up heaps of schnitzel, bratwurst, steins, beer, games, lederhosen, and ample polka, just like other Oktoberfests. But there are many other pieces to its success.

The Snowbird Oktoberfest, heading into its 43rd year, began in the summer of 1972—the first summer Snowbird was open. Then-food and beverage VP Bob Hutchins threw an Oktoberfest party for the staff as a “thank you” for all their hard work over the winter. Horst and Marianne Young, who owned a German deli in Salt Lake City, helped with the party. In addition to the staff, some folks from the German community came out, and it was a great success.

In 1973, the event morphed into a Labor Day weekend celebration open to the general public. So many people came out that the resort ran out of food, but that didn’t damper the fun, says Hutchins. The first few years remained relatively low-key. Good crowds of people enjoyed autumn on Snowbird’s plaza deck, drinking Lowenbrau (the event’s beer sponsor at the time), singing songs, and yodeling.

As the resort grew, though, so did the event. From 1973 to 1999, Oktoberfest drew enough visitors to expand from one weekend to five. In 2000, a sixth weekend was added. In 2007, a seventh, and it grew again in 2009 and 2013. In a matter of just 13 years, the number of days nearly doubled. Oktoberfest has become a critical component of Snowbird’s summer revenue, and impacts every aspect of the resort’s business.

Many Hands

Snowbird doesn’t hire a production company to execute the many facets of the festival; it’s all coordinated and managed in-house. But it brings in additional employees to assist the year-round staff for Oktoberfest: 110 this year, primarily in food and beverage roles. Beyond that temporary extra help, Oktoberfest keeps more people on the payroll year-round, a boon for employee retention.

According to Dave Fields, Snowbird VP of resort operations, every department at the resort is involved. “Whether it’s setting up the 40 or so cash registers for the event, retail, marketing, mountain operations, events—everyone has a role,” he says. That includes Snowbird’s conference A/V department, which handles the sound for the bands on the main stage. Investing in the sound equipment came with up-front costs, but has paid for itself many times over given the thousands of dollars it costs to hire an outside sound company.

Planning for the festival—booking bands, performers, and coordinating vendors—goes on year-round. The week before it all begins, Snowbird staff drop whatever else they’re doing and head outside. “It’s a huge effort to get the festival grounds set up,” says Fields. “Tents, grills, stages, fencing, the big archway at the entrance, it is all hands on deck to get that done.”

He adds that the biggest challenge the resort faces is storing all the food it needs to have on hand. “We work with a local company that makes our bratwurst, and they make it each week. We just don’t have the space to store it all. In fact, we now rent a refrigerator truck and park it in front of the building just because we run out of room,” he says.

During the event, Fields says he spends the most time making sure the facilities are tidy and guests have a clean place to…go. “It puts huge demand on our restrooms,” says Fields. “One of the biggest lines we have at the festival is for the women’s bathroom.” To augment the restrooms, 24 port-a-potties will be delivered for this year’s event. “That’s about double the number we had just two years ago,” says events manager Kate Crooker.

Along with the extra potties comes the task of keeping all the bathroom facilities clean. The resort has dedicated staff for this task, but everyone shares in the responsibility. A filthy bathroom or overflowing port-a-potty can ruin a guest’s experience.

Traditional Flavor, New Twists

While many aspects of the festival have changed over the years, many things have stayed the same. One of those is its authentic feel. “It was started by people with heritage that goes back the Oktoberfest in Munich. That authenticity has been a consistent component of our Oktoberfest since day one,” says Fields.

Authenticity goes beyond playing polka and serving traditional German fare, although there’s plenty of that: During the event’s 19 days, Snowbird will go through thousands of pounds of bratwurst, schnitzel, and apples (think strudel). Dozens of breweries serve their fall flavors, including local producers Wasatch, Squatter’s, Moab, and Uinta. Guests can purchase a one-liter Oktoberfest-branded glass stein filled with the beer of their choice for $20. Refills are about $10. Fields politely declined to share the exact number of branded glass mugs the resort sells at the festival, but to give you an idea of how many—they get delivered in a semi-trailer.

Every day at 3 p.m. on the top of Hidden Peak, 11,000 feet above sea level, three alp horns play (think Ricola ads). This has been a part of the event from the start and is a huge draw, according to Fields.

As in Munich, a Burgermeister runs the show. He is the “mayor” of Oktoberfest, and in 43 years Snowbird has only had three. Deli owner Young performed this duty from 1973 to 1998, then Walter Schwemmer took over. When Walter retired in 2008, his son Rick became master of ceremonies. The Burgermeister runs the games and contests, leads the chicken dance, toasts with the crowd, taps the ceremonial keg during Labor Day weekend, and educates visitors about Bavarian culture.

Speaking of which: no event can call itself a true Oktoberfest without the right music. There’s just something special about a lederhosen-clad band belting out polka’s greatest hits while you wash down a bratwurst with a stein full of German lager.

The festival hosts several bands, but just two appear on all 19 days of the event: Salzberger Echo and B & B All Stars. Both have appeared for many years. Other German bands play, too; Crooker books them a year or more in advance. “I’m already starting to look for bands for next year [2017],” she said in early June. “Oktoberfests are becoming very popular and they book quickly!”

But the festival does not limit itself to traditional music. Snowbird added a second stage featuring bands that play more familiar brands of music, like rock and alternative. When guests need a break from polka, they can listen to some Pearl Jam (covers). » cont.

With so much beer on hand, Snowbird posts signs throughout the festival reminding people not to drink and drive. But if they do, Snowbird has them covered. “We partner with a van transportation company, so if a guest has had too much to drink and can’t drive, we have vans waiting to give them a ride home on our nickel,” says Fields. “It turns into a pretty substantial cost for us, but it’s worth it.”

New this year, designated drivers will get a free Oktoberfest mug and bottomless soft drinks. “Don’t drink and drive, we can’t stress that enough,” Fields says.

A BIG-MINDED Business Model

Snowbird does not charge admission to attend its Oktoberfest, as that could negatively impact revenues from its several other activities and sources. “What we see is guests can come in and spend nothing, or they buy activity passes for themselves and their kids, and lunch, and tee shirts, or other take-home mementos. The model has been very successful,” Fields says.

The inclusiveness and freedom of not paying to walk through the door could actually be the catalyst for guests to spend more—and Snowbird provides plenty of opportunities for festivalgoers to open their wallets. Over the years, Snowbird has invested in a mountain coaster, alpine slide, mountain flyer, vertical drop free-fall tower, climbing wall, ropes course, bungee trampoline, kids’ inflatables, and even gemstone mining. Not to mention tram rides to 11,000 feet, where the new Summit Lodge awaits.

“Food and beverage does really well, but the activities are packed,” says Fields. “We do an increased price for our activities and tram rides during Oktoberfest, and we have lines at the ticket window for five hours straight. So, all elements of the business do really well.”

Since the price bump is minimal, Snowbird doesn’t hear any bellyaching from guests. Prices for tram ride tickets and all-day activities passes each go up $4. But the extra dollars adds up quickly. That’s yield management at its finest.

Another steady stream of revenue comes from the 25 to 30 vendors Oktoberfest has on site in “Der Marketplatz.” Vendors are charged a flat fee for the opportunity to sell their wares, which include products from local artisans, jewelry makers, and specialty food producers. The vendors, of course, add another piece to the festival’s attractions and contribute to its well-rounded offerings.

Something For Everyone

Fields credits Snowbird’s varied summer activities for Oktoberfest’s success. There’s something for everyone, especially families. The inclusive nature of the festival, coupled with a huge variety of activities, entertainment, food, and shopping, makes it easy to convince anyone to attend.

To a 10-year-old, “C’mon, let’s go to Snowbird to eat brats and listen to polka” doesn’t sound like fun. However, saying, “Wanna go to Snowbird and ride the alpine slide, go swimming, and get your face painted?” works every time.

Snowbird has also made sure to convey that its Oktoberfest is not just a drinking festival. Many attendees don’t drink at all and have a great time.

As a result, Fields says they see local families from the greater Salt Lake City area coming up to Little Cottonwood Canyon for multiple weekends, and actually booking hotel room packages—even if they are only 15 to 30 minutes from home. Once the festival is over for the day, families head back to the hotel where the kids can swim in the pool and the parents can go to the spa. It’s the variety of activities at Snowbird that makes the difference between a weekend stay and a two-hour visit, Fields says.

The lodging component is what really makes Oktoberfest the envy of many in the resort industry. Says Fields, “Over the last few years, as the event’s popularity has grown, we’ve seen it go from a nice bump in our lodging to a dramatic bump in actual sellouts.” When weekends in August, September, and October are mentioned in the same sentence as sellouts, something is going right—especially at a resort with more than 1,000 beds to fill.

Saturday nights are the most popular and typically sell out, but guests can take advantage of more aggressive rates to stay Friday night as well. The ultimate goal is increased length of stay, so Snowbird offers packages that include lodging, breakfast and/or dinner, and activity passes, all for one price. This has been a far more successful model than a la carte pricing, which also lengthens and complicates the booking process. The lesson: Don’t make it difficult for people to give you their money.

While authenticity has made Snowbird’s event one of the best in this category, it’s how the resort capitalizes on ancillary revenue opportunities that makes it stand out as a model for others to emulate. Snowbird has proven that an event can go far beyond the typical one-and-done weekend windfall. Events and festivals give people a reason to visit your resort. Ancillary activities for the entire family to enjoy give them a reason to stay. That’s proved to be a winning combination.