It all started in 1991. Raymond Buse, spokesman for the Downtown Council, was handling public relations for his first Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati.

How to do the Chicken Dance.

        He followed some bright, upbeat polka music to a tent where people were flapping their arms and wiggling their rear ends. He entered another, and another, and found people dancing like chickens in each one.

        Then inspiration struck: “Why not do it all together?” he asked.

        The next year, Cincinnatians united in one big frenzy of featherless flailing. Two years after that, 48,000 people joined the World's Largest Chicken Dance, earning the city a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

        Every year since, Mr. Buse has invited famous people to lead the crowds. Trumpeter Al Hirt. Former Monkee Davy Jones. Even the king of pop parodies, “Weird Al” Yankovic, released his inner chicken, as did Luitpold Von Bayern, the crown prince of Bavaria.

        To top it off, in 1998, they added kazoos.

Part of something special

        In just 13 days (Sept. 15), Tony Orlando will lead festival-goers at what is billed as the World's Largest Chicken Dance and Kazoo Band at the 25th Annual Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati. Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra music director Paavo Jarvi will open the festivities when he leads the crowd through “America the Beautiful” with soloist Jianna Hunter.

        Mr. Buse calls experiences like this “goosebump moments.”

        “You see the celebrity come onstage, and you see 30,000 people with kazoos, and you're geared up to do the chicken dance, and you know you're part of something special,” he says.

        Not only will festival-goers have kazoos for the Chicken Dance song, but they can use them as Mr. Orlando sings his hit “Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree.” Mr. Orlando was asked to lead the band after country singer Dolly Parton declined an invitation from the city, despite an extensive letter-writing campaign.

        Not that the chicken dancers are likely to mind. For a few minutes, those who have had a few beers — and those who insist they are completely sober — will simply enjoy strutting their stuff at Fountain Square to celebrate being Zinzinnatians.

        “I liken it to Groundhog Day in Puxatawney,” Mr. Buse says.

A flapping success

        Mick Noll of Latonia says he noticed the chicken dance was starting to sweep Cincinnati in the mid-70s. The band at his old restaurant, Covington Haus, had toured Germany and started playing the popular ditty one night.

        “Everybody started doing the chicken dance,” says Mr. Noll, who now owns Struedel Haus on West Sixth Street. “It was crazy!”

        Mr. Noll says he dresses in traditional German clothing when he flaps the light fantastic to honor the dance's origins. But he stops short of donning a chicken suit, as some of the more exuberant dancers are wont to do.

        “I think I'll stick with my lederhosen,” he says wryly.

        “The outfit helps because it gets you in the mood, and it gets you motivated, and it gets other people motivated. It's just a fun thing. Everybody can do it: young, old and all classes of people.”

Don't miss your chance
        Germania Park and Hamilton have already had their Oktoberfests, but there are plenty of celebrations remaining. Just 12 days are left to learn the Chicken Dance before the big event on Fountain Square. Here's a schedule:

        Sept. 7-9: Oktoberfest Mainstrasse Village, Covington, (859) 491-0458.

        Sept. 14-Nov. 11: Octoberfest Floral Display, Krohn Conservatory, Eden Park, 421-5707

        Sept. 15-16: Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati, Fountain Square, downtown, 579-3191, www.oktoberfest-zinzinnati.com/oktober.asp

        Sept. 27-29: Lawrenceburg Fallfest, downtown Lawrenceburg, Ind. (800) 322-8198

        Sept. 29-30: Oktoberfest 2001, Dayton Art Institute, (937) 223-5277

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