Cold beer, hip tunes at family-friendly Fremont Oktoberfest

You thought summer was over, but it's not.

OK, it is — at least as of Monday, when autumn officially begins. But the weather's been lovely enough to warrant another summer-style family/beer-garden/music event. Say hello to Fremont Oktoberfest, a magical place where you can drink 70 different beers and watch a BMX bike rider jump 100 kegs.

"We have emergency vehicles standing by," says event director Phil Megenhardt.

I can see it now: Music blaring, people tripping over alcohol-soaked corpses, safety crews hosing BMX blood into the Fremont canal.

Just kidding.

"The festival has a lot going on for families," Megenhardt says of the three-day fest, which starts today. He cites kid-friendly features like a root-beer-tasting garden and an opportunity to make your own lederhosen. And just like the Germans did, you can invent a car ... made from zucchini. After you stick an axle through the squash, you race it till the wheels fall off (shouldn't take too long).

"I do know some people come all three days," Megenhardt says. "Usually it's the dudes all dressed up and looking crazy." His breakdown: "Sunday's heavy on the family side, Saturday's the busy day and Friday's the after-work crowd."

Saturday's the day of the Texas Chainsaw Pumpkin Carving Contest — which is exactly what it sounds like — plus more than 10 hours of excellent local music.

"All our sponsorship is built on having a great show," says Megenhardt. "[Record store] Sonic Boom is not going to get behind an event that's not cool."

That Fremont Oktoberfest is "cool" might surprise scenesters for whom "lederhosen" and "family-friendly atmosphere" are anathema, but it is. Festival music booker Pete Greenberg made some great choices.

To the observation that Everett band the Moondoggies is perfect for the festival (its Neil Young/The Band-style rock the ideal soundtrack for an outdoor drink-athon), Greenberg says, "You're not the first person who's told me that."

Seattle hip-hop act Cancer Rising headlines Saturday. (Full disclosure: The members of that band are my friends.) Greenberg says he picked the group for its energetic stage show. One of the group's rappers, Gatsby, said Fremont Oktoberfest is not a hip-hop crowd.

"And that's why I like it. It's people that are there to drink, one, and listen to some music, second," he said. "It's not a stodgy hip-hop crowd with their arms crossed. At least at Oktoberfest, people get into it." And he's excited for some recognition. "Last time we played, [the band] Siberian called us 'Common Market.' "

In Munich, Oktoberfest is about beer, and Fremont's doesn't slack in that regard, either. There's a garden for German beer and bratwurst, and Megenhardt says, "The microbrew festival is the best in the state." Entrance to the festival is free, but the beer garden is $20 to enter ($15 if you buy an advance ticket through Brown Paper Tickets, or a slew of physical locations listed at the festival Web site, www.fremontoktoberfest.com, where there is also a schedule of events). A beer-garden ticket gets you a 5-ounce mug to take home and four "tastes" of beer. For $5 more, you can double that — or go at your own pace for $1.75 per beer.

Andrew Matson: 206-464-2153 or amatson@seattletimes.com