Polly: Start Oktoberfest early at Germania Society

This weekend marks the kickoff of the fall Oktoberfest season, which lasts from late August to the end of October. The best-known event is the Downtown Zinzinnati Oktoberfest, an extravaganza of beer and pretzels and lederhosen. The women are busy, too, turning 800 pounds of potatoes into Germania potato salad -- a simple, warm salad that's tangy and rich.

And they make a few thousand sauerkraut balls, small creamy ones you can find in several booths. But here are a few reasons why you might want to start with the earliest Oktoberfest, the Germania Society fest, taking place this weekend. It's not as big as the Downtown event, though it's plenty popular. It takes place in a more family friendly, intimate setting, with a Klubhaus, a biergarten, a tent, a shelter, even tables in a grove of trees. And they have the food that gets you in the German spirit, much of it made and served by the members of the society.

A crew of men from the club roast 1,400 Oktoberfest chickens over the three-day event. They rub them with seasoned salt, put them on spits and cook them to a crackling golden brown over hardwood charcoal. (It gets super-hot in the area where they cook.) They're sold by the whole or the half, in dinners or just plain chicken, and they're very good: fat and tender with crisp skin.

Schwenkbraten is pork cooked on a swing. This is a grill hung from a tripod over a charcoal fire on which thin-sliced pork marinated with onions is cooked. It's boldly flavored, served on a hard roll or as a dinner. The same booth does schnitzel and mock turtle soup.

Currywurst is available, or rather the curry-flavored ketchup that Berliners like to put on a sausage is a available. In the Klubhaus, they serve full German dinners; either sauerbraten (or pork loin), with noodles and delicious red cabbage.

There's an inside dining room where you can sit down to eat, and maybe end with a Servatii's strudel, raspberry mousse or a deceptively simple and good cinnamon crisp. Then you can dance it off in the Pavilion, maybe to a German band doing "Wasting Away at Oktoberfest," complete with steel drum. And, if you still have strength, try holding a full stein in an outstretched arm in an event called the Masskrugstemmen. On Saturday, there's a keg-tapping and a tug-of-war.

If you go:Germania Society's Oktoberfest

Where: Germania Park, 3529 W. Kemper Road

When: August 28: 6 p.m.-midnight; August 29, 2 p.m. to Midnight; August 30 noon-10 p.m.

Admission: $4, free to 12 and under and to active and retired military

More information: www.germaniasociety.com