Michael Eichert, 60, of Northeast Philadelphia, couldn't agree more. He was sitting at a crowded table near the food tent.
"It's the one place to go in Philly for a taste of what a Bavarian-style festival is really like," said the German native, washing down knockwurst and German potato salad with a Warsteiner beer.
A walk through the fairgrounds was a walk among the tastes, smells, sights, and sounds of German culture.
Past the tent of cuckoo clocks cuckooing "Edelweiss" from The Sound of Music, past the tables of nutcrackers and traditional German garb, past roasting Bavarian beer nuts that smelled like Christmas, a crowd formed to watch the unveiling of Gustav Plankenhorn's towering fruit column.
A harvest tradition dating to 19th-century Germany, the painstakingly constructed tower of squash, potatoes, beans, and pears was completed by Plankenhorn, 80, of Philadelphia, and other volunteers, over the last few weeks.
Depicting scenes of German folklore, it's a mosaic of fruit and vegetables.
Josh and Mary Lemp of Levittown stopped to pose for a photo in front of the column with their toddler children, Nathan and Alex.
For them, the festival has been a tradition since Josh Lemp's grandfather Hans first took the family to it 25 years ago.
Hans Lemp and the rest of the family had already made their way Saturday to a table in a shaded spot.
"We come and sit and drink and eat and tell stories," he said, raising his glass.
In charge of the food tent, Cannstatter Club member Helmut Lingohr, 71, stood among the grills as volunteers dished out heaping plates of German potato salad and bratwurst.
His granddaughter Jessica Shaffer, a 26-year-old actress from Willingboro, worked the counter wearing her traditional dirndl.
