Die Flotten Oberkrainer is a Monheim, Germany act that plays the peppy oberkrainer folk-music from Slovenia.(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

The Chicken Dance is mandatory.

If youre a German band playing Cape Corals Oktoberfest this weekend, you have to play the wing-flapping, butt-wiggling song. No excuses. No exceptions.

Why? Oktoberfest audiences love it, thats why.

Its fun, says Tony Krenn, entertainment chairman for the popular annual event. We have to play it. I make the band play it every hour. Its a must.

The dance floor fills up. And everybody from 2 years old to 80 years old is participating.

Of course, theres more than just The Chicken Dance happening at Oktoberfest. Theres also German food, German vendors and German beer lots and lots of German beer.

The festival went through about 800 barrels of German and domestic beer last year, says Oktoberfest chairman Steve Eichner. Thats roughly 9,600-12,800 gallons poured over six days.

Eichner doesnt know the exact amount. Its just a lot of beer, thats all! he says and laughs.

So get ready to drink, dance and celebrate all things German. Heres everything you need to know about the 34th annual event:

A stein-hoisting contest at the 2017 Oktoberfest(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

Oktoberfest takes place over two weekends, starting Friday at the German American Social Club, 2101 S.W. Pine Island Road, Cape Coral.

Hours are 4 p.m. to midnight Friday, noon to midnight Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday through Oct. 27.

Tickets are $5 in advance, $6 at the gate, and free for ages 11 and younger. Parking is free.

You can buy tickets in advance at the German American Social Club, Trebing Tile in Cape Coral, European American Bakery in Fort Myers, Kallis German Butcher Shop in Port Charlotte and Geiers Sausage Kitchen in Sarasota.

This year's Miss Oktoberfest is FGCU graduate Ashley Jones, 22, of Estero.(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

Bring your waltzing and polka shoes! And get ready to Chicken Dance, too (theres even a contest).

This years fest includes 10 bands on two stages and a giant dance floor. Three of those bands come straight from Germany:

The German bands usually perform traditional music in the afternoon, Krenn says. Then they switch to more modern songs at night.

Other bands at Oktoberfest include Manni Daum Trio, The Hot Buttered Nuggets, Lee County Pipes & Drums, Deb & The Dynamics and the German American Social Clubs house band, Hafenkapelle.

Those bands play everything from German songs to blues rock to swing jazz and Americana.

We are a German American club, not just a German club, Krenn explains. So we bring in local stuff as well.

The 37-year-old Bavarian folk-dance group Andorfer Plattler from Passau, Germany(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

The social clubs party band gets its name from the German for harbor band. Their repertoire includes waltzes, marches, polkas, big-band tunes, pop and other good-time dance music.

The all-volunteer band started in 1983, and it's been playing Oktoberfests every year since then.

The 25 to 30 members play a variety of instruments, including trumpets, flugelhorns, tubas, clarinets, drums and alphorns those really long horns you see in Ricola TV commercials.

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Germans have been holding Oktoberfest festivals, in and out of Germany, since the tradition started in 1810 to celebrate the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria.

From there, the festival has evolved into a worldwide annual event known for German food, music and a good-time atmosphere.

Cape Corals German American Club has been holding itspublic event for 34 years. But it actually started as a private event for club members in 1964, Eichner says.

Now, Oktoberfest is the clubs biggest fundraiser of the year. About 35,000 people come every year to drink, eat, dance and party like Germans.

This is the biggie, Eichner says.

The money pays for the clubs operations, he says, but they also donate $20,000 to $30,000 every year to various charities, including Hope Hospice.

Lee County Pipes & Drums performs at Oktoberfest every year.(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

Let's face it: Sober people rarely get up for The Chicken Dance. A few Pilsner beers later, though, and you have a different story.

This year, organizers boast about 13 different beers on tap, Eichner says. Three are domestic: Miller Lite, Coors Light and Yuengling Lager.

The other 10 come from where else? Germany. That includes Warsteiner German Pilsner, Warsteiner Dunkel, limited-edition Warsteiner Oktoberfest (brewed solely for Oktoberfest events), Schofferhofer Grapefruit, Bitburger and Radeberger.

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Many visitors to the Cape festival will dress in traditional clothing such as lederhosen or dirndls tight-bodiced dresses that come in a variety of colors.

Many will also wear felt hats decorated with metal pins. That style is common in Germany, where people collect pins on their hats from the places they've been.

If you want to wear a piece of German heritage, you can buydirndls,lederhosen, pins and more fromthe approximately 50 vendors throughoutthe festival grounds.

Oktoberfest wouldn't be the same without the food, and there's plenty of that on hand. Traditional dishes served every year include potato pancakes and applesauce, saurbrauten barbecue, potato salad and schnitzel.

Then, of course, there are all those varieties of German sausage. Plus, for dessert, everything from Black Forest chocolate cake to apple strudel to plum streusel cake.

This year's Miss Oktoberfest is FGCU graduate Ashley Jones, 22, of Estero.(Photo: Special to The News-Press)

The Miss Oktoberfest pageant has been held since 1989. It helps promote the event and attract younger people to join the club, organizers say.

This years Miss Oktoberfest is Ashley Jones, an FGCU graduate with a degree in sales and marketing. After Oktoberfest, she'll movefrom Estero to Washington, D.C.,for a year-long sales training program through media company Bloomberg Industry Group.

Jones, 22, has been visiting the German American Social Club for about a year with a friend to dance and learn more about her German heritage. Her great-grandmother came from Germany, she says, and the family still makes her sauerbraten recipe.

Its important keeping up with tradition and culture, Jones says. Its cool for me to learn more about those traditions and values, knowing that thats part of my heritage.

She says she looks forward to walking around Oktoberfest in her sash and crown, meeting people, drinking beer and having fun. And yes, shell be dancing, too.

Ive got The Chicken Dance down! she says.

For more information about Oktoberfest, call 283-1400 or visit capecoraloktoberfest.com.

Connect with this reporter: Charles Runnells (News-Press) (Facebook), @charlesrunnells (Twitter), @crunnells1 (Instagram)

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Cape Coral's Oktoberfest: The Chicken Dance, the beer and everything else you need to know - News-Press