Do you have a snapshot of Oktoberfest in your head?

It could be a colorful float at the Maple Leaf parade. Or maybe it's an impromptu polka with a grenadier. For many of us, it's getting pinned by one of the festmasters.

Whatever your memory, it has likely been caught on film over the years, and those memories are now on display in Festland on the South Side Oktoberfest grounds.

At Festland, you usually can count on running into a festmaster or two, said Oktoberfest President Jodi Ehren-berger. "It's a great way to collect pins."

But this year, there will be another reason to visit Festland. Duane Moore, 1997-98 festmaster, has put together a photographic history of Oktoberfest that will take onlookers from the 1961 beginnings right up to the present-day fest. He's calling the display "Fest of Times," and the photographs in it were taken by Herman Rick, John Zoerb, Louis Bornheimer, L. Peter Freisenger and Chuck Moore.

For Moore, a walk through this photographic gallery is a walk back through time. He was there when some of those photos were taken, and he has stories to go with them.

As they prepare to launch into next year's 50th anniversary, Moore has been busy writing a book about the festival, so he's been lederhosen-deep in all things Oktoberfest.

Though stories abound about how Oktoberfest got started, one of the most-agreed upon is four golfing buddies - John Coleman, Roy Kumm, Ray Ping and Don Rice - were trying to puzzle out a way to get La Crosse's name on the map. "What can we do to make people proud of our town?" they asked.

How could they have known their little idea would yield such big result?

The La Crosse Chamber of Commerce presented the first festival, featuring a fancy new parade called The Maple Leaf. The second year debuted a festmaster - Rice, of that original golf foursome. Mrs. Oktoberfest was added to the celebration in 1968, with the honor falling on Joyce Lindseth.

Retired Tribune reporter Pat Moore was a secretary for the Chamber of Commerce at the time, and she was responsible for making sure the fest operated like a well-oiled machine, said Duane Moore. "She was the glue that held it together." She became Maple Leaf Parade marshal in 1997.

"It took off like nobody expected," said Duane Moore.

"But every time there's a positive, there's a negative," he said, and Oktoberfest grew to symbolize a drunken good time to out-of-towners who came streaming into La Crosse.

"People came to have fun," Moore said, but it began to tarnish the festival's reputation.

Through the years, those connected to Oktoberfest worked hard to restore its image and turn the event around. They've done that with hometown, feel-good events such as the Lederhosen Luncheon, Ladies Day Luncheon and Heritage Night.

"The Lederhosen Luncheon started out as a businessman's luncheon. Now it's open to the public and out-of-towners didn't hardly know about it," he said, because it occurs on a Monday.

Yes, you still can drink beer at Oktoberfest, but the festival is so much more than that, organizers say. President Jodi Ehrenberger particularly enjoys the Festmaster's Ball, when the new festmaster is introduced, and she also loves the opening day ceremony, especially when the weather cooperates.

Another fest fixture is the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Screaming Eagles band. Their performance on the North Side festgrounds - set this year for 7 p.m. Sept. 29 - is a crowd pleaser as well.

They're pulling out the big guns next year for the 50th anniversary, she said, so this year has been about polishing what is already great.

"We want to do everything we normally do well. We want lots of friendship and cheer.

"And we want good weather for the two parades," she added with a laugh. "Good weather is what makes Oktoberfest, and seeing your friends."

Brad Quarberg, president of Oktoberfest in 2001, said the 9/11 terrorist attacks that year forever will be linked with Oktoberfest in his mind because it happened just weeks earlier.

"It really didn't hit me until I walked out on the parade route and saw sand trucks at the end of the route," Quarberg said. "We had the police come in to talk to the board. There were ideas for evacuation plans, and there was always discussion of people poisoning food."

Everything about Oktoberfest was different that year, he said.

"I've been to every parade probably since the early '80s. That crowd that day was the most quiet, the most different. People were subdued. They didn't really want to celebrate but were there to celebrate. There were lots of flags along the route. I remember having one in my hand."