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Mike Chenevert counted off the band. A tuba player, a trumpet player, a trombone player and a drummer launched into another polka. 

“I hope everyone has had enough beer, so they feel uninhibited enough to dance,” said Chenevert, the clarinetist for the Oom Pa Pas.

“You don’t even need to know how to polka,” he added. “You just bounce around.” 

A few people tentatively rose from the long tables stretching in front of the bandstand. They placed their steins of beer down on the blue and white checkered tablecloth. And, as instructed, they danced. 

Mainers got a taste of Germany at the third annual Biddeford Oktoberfest on Saturday. Three local breweries kept the Pilsners and lagers flowing. A dozen food booths provided the grub, including pretzels with beer cheese. And the Oom Pa Pas, a Boston-based Bavarian band, played polkas, waltzes and marches, thanking the crowd with a “danke schön” between tunes. There was inflatable axe throwing, cornhole, pretzel necklace-making and, for the first time, a maker’s fair with a dozen booths of local artists. 

The event, hosted by Heart of Biddeford – a nonprofit supporting a vibrant downtown Biddeford – was part community gathering, part fundraiser. 

Last year, the ticketed event welcomed 1,200 guests and raised a little less than $10,000, all of which was reinvested into free community events like Music in the Park, Merry and Bright Night and River Jam. This year, they pre-sold 600 tickets and expected 1,500 people, according to Kiara Delossantos, an employee with Heart of Biddeford. 

“With all that community engagement, we’re building a lot of connections in the community and people feel more included,” said Delilah Poupore, the director of Heart of Biddeford. “This is their town.” 

Ian McConnell, the owner of Banded Brewing Co., was prepared for the community to show up. Donning a pair of lederhosen, he brought 10 barrels of beer to sell. 

“It’s a big day for us,” he said. “We’re pouring a lot of beer.” This included the Oktoberfest lager – a crowd favorite – which he started brewing before the event even existed. 

“I’ve always been inspired by German beer,” he said. 

Some attendees were drawn to other parts of Bavarian culture. Heidi Parmenter, of Biddeford, donned a black dirndl with a ruffled white shirt underneath. Her red apron had embroidered flowers. 

“It totally matches,” she said, showing an illustration from the 19th century novel “Heidi.” 

She dressed as her namesake. The movie adaptation of the book about a young girl from the Alps was her mother’s favorite as a child. “She didn’t want to name me Shirley,” Parmenter said. Heidi it was. 

Parmenter did her namesake proud, making it pretty far in the event’s first stein-hoisting competition, tapping out when her arm started to wobble. She wasn’t the only one who dressed the part. 

Phil Cheverie and Kerry Bush, of Alfred, bought German outfits for the occasion, though they plan to reuse it as their Halloween costumes.

Cheverie went to Oktoberfest in Munich two decades ago. “It was fantastic,” he said. He loved the long tables, the tents full of German music and dancing and, of course, “the big steins of beer and big pretzels.” 

While Biddeford “is not quite Munich,” he said that the great food and cold beer paired with the perfect weather made for a wonderful afternoon.