Cheers to a safe Oktoberfest

Happy Oktoberfest? In any other year, today would have marked the tapping of the Golden Keg to kick off Oktoberfest. But this isn’t just any other year. There will be no official festing in 2020. But how much unofficial festing will there be? For college students, let’s hope less than other years. At UW La Crosse, they are still in a virtual learning model and dorms remain in quarantine. But still there are too many troubling stories and pictures of students not exactly following health protocols. Packing the bars, going to crowded house parties, little social distancing and few masks. No wonder local coronavirus cases are going up so sharply, with the twenty-somethings making up the bulk of the new infections. That led to a tongue-lashing from the UWL Dean of Students who sent students a letter telling them to do better, or else. Whether they will abide is the question. For the sake of the health of our community, let’s hope so. Oktoberfest weekend should be a time to let loose and have fun. But not by the thousands, or even hundreds. Small gatherings with close friends is the best way to fest this year. Let’s have fun, but stay safe so that next Oktoberfest we can get back together and fest like never before. Prost!