How do you fix a broken tuba?
With a “tuba” glue, obviously.
If you had attended Friday evening’s Oktoberfest at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, you would have known the answer to that.
The PolkaMeisters, a Pittsburgh-based good-time party band, entertained the crowd with a touch of cornball humor mixed in with polka favorites like “The Happy Wanderer,” “In Heaven There Is No Beer” and “She’s Too Fat for Me” — although band members debated whether that last should be amended to “She’s Too Hot for Me.”
It was a perfect night for an outdoor, socially distanced party — more like an Augustfest than an Oktoberfest, with temperatures hovering in the high 70s. Some guests saw it as a last warm-weather hurrah, with temperatures forecast to plummet overnight.
Providing a different kind of entertainment, master ice carver Richard Bubin of Churchill, founder of Ice Creations, applied his formidable skills to a few pumpkins.
Bubin said he’s been carving ice for more than 38 years, after starting as a chef carving fruits and vegetables. He earned a Guinness World Record in 2002 as the fastest ice carver with 61, 300-pound blocks of ice carved into 61 different sculptures in 4 hours, 22 minutes and 55 seconds.
He’s been a regular at Kennywood and Pittsburgh’s Light Up Night and First Night.
“I’ve traveled the world with a chainsaw,” he said, but at this time of year, pumpkin-carving predominates.
The museum offered more fun with make-your-own fraktur and art scavenger hunt activities.
And of course, there was beer — from All Saints Brewing Co., Invisible Man Brewing and Sobel’s Obscure Brewery and hearty party food from Roadrunner Hot Dawgs.
Seen: Christine D’Alesio, Heather Wensel, Janey Wensel, Tu Bui, Alexa Sell, Jeff and Sally Sell, Ben and Renee Kiner and John, Annie and Cooper Wilson; and representing The Westmoreland, Director/CEO Anne Kraybill with husband James Kraybill and sons Liam and Calvin, Chief Curator Barbara Jones, Randall Oaks, Bonnie West and Claire Ertl with daughter Audrey.
