[September 23, 2011] City prepares for Oktoberfest Tweet Sep 23, 2011 (La Crosse Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The coolers are stocked, the Jello shots are chilling. The buttons are bought, and parade watchers are camped out on Copeland. La Crosse is throwing a party. But there's more to Oktoberfest than beer and brats. Long before the Golden Keg is tapped, work was happening behind the scenes to prepare for tens of thousands of festers to descend on the city. Pool tables and dart boards are hauled out of the downtown bars. Street crews distribute extra garbage cans. Utilities check the parade route for gas leaks. Even cellphone providers tweak their networks to accommodate the extra volume. Clearing the floors Every year Stansfield Vending takes out pool tables, dart boards and video games -- "things we're worried about people tipping over, spilling drinks on," said service manager Bob Johnson. It's partly to make room for extra patrons in the bar, partly to protect the equipment. Two crews spend the better part of two days removing the stuff and another two days returning it. Stansfield uses it as a chance to swap out pool tables in time for fall league play. "It's a lot of work," he said, "but it works out well in the end." Beefing up the network An estimated 100,000 people along Saturday's Maple Leaf parade route yakking on cellphones, texting and updating their Facebook status with pictures can put a strain on a wireless network. That's why wireless providers add equipment for big events like Oktoberfest or football games at Lambeau Field -- "any time you're going to get a large number of people in one place," said Ande White, one of U.S. Cellular's 10 system performance engineers in Wisconsin. White said the increasing use of data-hungry smartphones have made it even harder to predict how much extra capacity to add. With the Warrens Cranfest going on simultaneously, engineer Mike Vold will have plenty of work making sure the network is running smoothly. "It'll be a weekend when I won't be sitting around too much." 'Somebody's gotta do it' This time of year, Darcy O'Laughlin dreams of portable toilets. Oktoberfest is the single biggest event each year for Kimo's Pumping and Portable Toilets, the Winona company she owns with her husband, Kim O'Laughlin. Kimo's has about 100 portables in the Oktoberfest grounds and along the parade route. Each one has to be emptied twice the day of the parade. Beer cans, bottles and cups that can foul up the pumps have to be fished out. "Somebody has to do it," O'Laughlin said. "Where they sell the beer, what's going in has got to come out somewhere." Checking for gas In the days before the Maple Leaf parade, an Xcel Energy "sniffer" truck creeps along the parade route at 5 mph checking for gas leaks. Xcel is required to check its underground natural gas lines once a year, but the utility has done an extra pass through the parade route for as long as design supervisor Ed Przytarski has been with the company. They haven't found a leak in his 37 years but still take the extra precaution before 100,000 people set up their lawn chairs and grills, said Przytarski, who also happens to be the 2010 Festmaster. 'Seven day fire drill' Oktoberfest is as big as it gets for beer distributors like La Crosse Beverage. Drivers begin building inventories a full week in advance and are frantically restocking Thursday and Friday at downtown bars. "Oktoberfest for a beer wholesaler is a way of life from the 15th on," said sales manager John Pendleton. "It's a seven-day fire drill, but it's something we've been doing for a long time." Retailers along the parade route do plenty of business, too -- in beer as well as brats, buns, ice, water and other drinks. "It's all hands on deck," said Kwik Trip's John McHugh. ___ (c)2011 the La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wis.) Visit the La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wis.) at www.lacrossetribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]