“Oktoberfest” typically conjures up images of lederhosen, pints of lager, and salt-speckled pretzels, but never would I have imagined the sights in Huntington Beach, where the highlight of the Oktoberfest festivities is wiener dog racing.
Second-generation German American Inge McKellop founded the races 36 years ago. Her parents moved to HB’s quaint fake-Euro Old World Village – with cobblestone streets and Bavarian architecture – when she was younger and residents operated businesses on the ground floor while living in the unit above them.
Now, McKellop runs her parents’ commercial unit as the village “Wiener Dog Store.”
Old World Village looks and feels like a German neighborhood, fitted with its own Biergarten. Photo by Kelsey Ngante.
Growing up there, McKellop had always been interested in ways to bring more German culture to the neighborhood. She says the idea for the races came after she saw a sign for the Dachshund Club of Santa Ana Valley.
“I thought, they have German dogs. We have a German village. So what the heck?” McKellop explains. She reached out to the club and offered the idea of bringing some dachshunds to the town.
A small dachshund runs across the Old World main street in one of the village’s first dachshund races. Photo by Inge McKellop.
“They came out, and they brought six dachshunds, a car battery with a wire with a skunk-scented rabbit fur at the end, and they used that to lure them through the Middle Street,” says McKellop.
When I visited in October, a crowd of at least 100 people had gathered in the town square of Old World Village to watch the short-legged dogs run. Owners shook containers of dog treats and hot dog meat to entice their pups to the end of the lane. Onlookers cheered and gasped as around 30 dogs competed against each other over the course of an hour.
It all boiled down to the last two races, the qualifying rounds where the first and second-place pups would earn spots in the “Wiener Nationals” competition on November 3. A chocolate brown dachshund named Gretchen placed first, and a black and brown dachshund named Wellington Boots came second.
Wellington Boots’ mom Cristianne Miranda was especially pleased with his performance.
“He was a tiny little puppy a year ago, and now he's 2, and we qualified for the Wiener Nationals,” Miranda beams. “He got disqualified after three races last year, but today, to come in with the silver medal is exceptional.”
As she says that, a fan from the race walks by cheering: “Wellington Boots!” Miranda laughs before saying, “He does have a fan base. I’ve got to get him his own Instagram page.”
Races are held intermittently until December 1.
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