Ask anyone at the Oktoberfest office and they'll tell you the fest isn't about beer. It's about the people.

Karen Gates, who has volunteered at Oktoberfest since 1975, agreed. But she also agrees it's about the beer, too.

"It always has been," said Gates, 58, of French Island.

She has headed up the parade committee, the Festmaster's Ball committee and sat on the board of directors.

"Anything with Oktoberfest is fun," Gates said. "I guess it's almost like a drug. It's addicting."

She took one year off the parade committee, she said, but that didn't go so well.

"I've never been so bored in my whole life," she said.

Her husband of 21 years, Charlie, knew she meant business when they started dating in 1985.

"By 1986, he was already on the parade committee," she said.

It took until 1994 to realize her long-time dream - to be a grenadier.

"I always thought it looked like it was fun," she said. "But you have to be married to be a grenadier, so when we got married in 1988, I started working on Charlie. It took awhile."

She loved going to Winnipeg for the renowned winter Festival du Voyageur, but the bus ride up in 1994 was less than spectacular.

The interstate was closed due to snow and ice, she said, but they went anyway. Then they got a flat tire.

"That was a tough first trip," she said, "and I think it's the only one I can remember that was that bad."

The couple stayed active in the grenadier corps until 1999, she said, but she still dons her dirndl from time to time.

While she loves opening day, she said if she had to pick one favorite event, it would be the Festmaster's Ball.

"It's beautiful," Gates said of the committee she still chairs. "And we do have little perks here."

She means the yearly trip to the Radisson to taste-test five or six meals before picking the right one for the night of the ball.

Yes, people can be pushy and territorial when it comes to working on the fest, she said, but mostly they're nice.

"I won't take any crap from anybody," she said, "because I've done it long enough."

She and Charlie have met friends from all over the country, she said, and that brings her back to volunteer year after year.

Next year is Oktoberfest's 50th anniversary, she said, and she already has been eyeing the committee putting that together.

"I haven't stuck my nose in that," Gates said, "but I've been kind of giving hints."