La Crosse Tribune,
July 30, 2008 . . .
Western student
wins button
design contest
By Ryan Stotts
Members of the
Oktoberfest
board of
directors, royal
family and
grenadiers
toasted a new
friend Tuesday
night.
Her name is Dana
Moe, and the
21-year-old
Western
Technical
College student
won the 2008
Oktoberfest
button design
contest.
Working with the
theme “In Tune
With Tradition,”
Moe was one of
more than 130
entrants in the
annual
competition,
said Oktoberfest
President Brian
Michaels.
“It just seemed
right,” Michaels
said of the
theme.
Dana Moe
standing
next to
the 2008
Oktoberfest
button
she
designed.
“There’s
obviously a
great tradition,
and the music is
a big part of
Oktoberfest.”
The board
decides on the
theme for the
upcoming year a
couple of months
after the fest
ends, Michaels
said.
Once the designs
are submitted,
he said, the
board whittles
it down to one
lucky winner.
“Hers came up
No. 1,” he said.
Moe — who is
from Cazenovia,
Wis., and
started at
Western last
year — has never
been to
Oktoberfest, but
she said a
friend told her
about the annual
celebration.
“It was a class
assignment,” Moe
said. “I didn’t
know a whole
lot, just what
my friend told
me. You know,
the men in the
funny little
outfits.”
Standing among
the dirndls and
lederhosen at
the ballpark in
Copeland Park on
Tuesday night,
Moe received a
check for $100
along with a
chorus of the
traditional
Oktoberfest song
“Ein Prosit!”
Peter Krause,
2007 festmaster,
said the event
was bittersweet
for him.
“It’s mixed
emotions time,”
Krause said.
“That means
we’re coming
closer to the
end of our
time.”
Moe, who said
she’ll be going
to the fest this
year, said her
emotions weren’t
mixed at all.
She was totally
shocked when she
won.
