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“Ein Prosit for Chris O’Hara – It’s Beer Festival Time Again”

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Description: These images were taken for the October 1st 1978 edition of the Tribune weekly newspaper – the first of which was published with the caption: “Mrs O'Hara adds another name to her waiting list - 200 strong and there were still more coming in.”

An excerpt from the article read: “Christine O'Hara got the job of organising Palmerston North's Oktoberfest beer festivals eight years ago - after she fell flat on her face at someone else's beer festival. Christine's sprawl on the beer-soaked floor resulted in a gash over her eye. Even that, plus the embarrassing experience of being sewn up" in the Palmerston North hospital by a Chinese doctor. hospital by a Chinese doctor while still in her fancy dress did not quench her enthusiasm.

…

“…the telephone in the O'Hara household is running hotter than ever, as people call asking about tickets, or wanting to know when they can come and pick them up. Cancelling them when people don't pay - or trying to find more - Christine tries to satisfy them all. She had a waiting list of 200 people a fortnight before the festival. And she does all the organising work on her own. She says she would be lost without help form 30 or 40 friends, relatives, band members, and members of the West End Swimming Club on the night of the festival. (She's been on the club committee for 10-15 years – her friends help her.) But in the months preceding the event, the load mainly falls on her. And she has a job of her own, plus a family to look after as well.”

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“’I'm not a libber - definitely not’ she laughed. ‘But once I've got something to do the adrenalin starts pumping through me and I am away. It's a challenge. People like to be treated as though they're special, and the way they respond to that is very rewarding.’”

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“…people may think the cost of tickets ‘a bit steep’ at $10 a head, Mrs O’Hara insists that the profit isn't exhorbitant [sic]. ‘We do get good money coming in, but the cost of putting the Oktoberfest on is colossal’. It would cost two-thirds of the $10,000 coming in to put the event on. There's 550 gallons of beer for a start. Seventy gallons of wine. Hundreds of balloons, miles of streamers. The cost of providing a continuous supper from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. The hail hire - at 60 for every person attending. The cost of getting programmes printed, meeting artists' expenses.”

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“The is rarely any trouble or real drunkenness at the Oktoberfests, something she attributes to combination of good humour, ‘the personal touch’ in the way everything's arranged and the way people are treated from the outset. The lively dancing and singing diminishes the effect of the alcohol despite the vast quantities drunk by some people.”

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“The beer and wine aspect of the first festivals was ‘very tricky’ because of strict advertising standards stopping the advertising of liquor. So the band hit on the name "Oktoberfest" to sum up the spirt of the occasion (along the lines of the German Oktoberfest) and had banners strung across the city's streets. ‘Once we promoted the name Oktoberfest - that was it. Everyone then knew what it was, what to expect- and it was from the was a success from there.’”

These images form part of the Manawatū Evening Standard Negative Collection. Unfortunately, only negatives between April and December 1978 are held.