Members of Schuhplattler und Gebirgstracten Verein Washingtonia, Inc. dance around the stage together at the Bavarian Inn’s 47th annual Oktoberfest celebration on Sunday. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Live music, German food and steins of beer could be found at the Bavarian Inn Resort & Brewing Company on Sunday, as the annual Oktoberfest celebration returned for its 47th year.

The celebration was particularly memorable for one group at Oktoberfest this year. According to Schuhplattler und Gebirgstracten Verein Washingtonia, Inc. president Scott Mahle, Sunday marked 60 years of his group performing traditional folk dancing at the Bavarian Inn.

“We are celebrating our 60th year of performing at the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown,” Mahle said.

The group’s German name, translated to English, means “Shoe-slapping and Mountain Costume Club of Washington.” And that is what it has been effectively doing for the last century.

“We are a nonprofit group focused on cultural preservation, centered around Bavarian traditional folk dancing,” Mahle said. “We perform all around the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia area, performing traditional dancing brought forth by our founding members in 1923.”

Schuhplattler und Gebirgstracten Verein Washingtonia, Inc. performs a dance around a maypole at the Bavarian Inn on Sunday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

One of the group’s members, Jutta Volkman, could remember all the way back to the first time the group had performed at the Bavarian Inn.

“A lady in Washington, D.C. had a restaurant called the Bavarian Inn. She bought the stone house here and, since she was also a part of our group, she said, ‘I have this place out in the country. Why don’t you come out here and dance for us?’ So we came out and performed here for the first time in February of 1964,” Volkman, who joined the group herself in 1961, said. “It had snowed and so we had to shovel snow in the parking lot after we arrived. And then we danced!”

Over the years since then, Volkman could recall watching the Bavarian Inn develop into the business it is today, with the establishment of its annual Oktoberfest celebration on the third Sunday in September; the purchase of the Shepherdstown-based business by the Asam family; and the expansion of the hotel and restaurant, with the construction of multiple Bavarian-themed buildings and other amenities, as well as the founding of a brewing company.

According to Volkman, performing at the Bavarian Inn has become a beloved tradition for the members of Schuhplattler und Gebirgstracten Verein Washingtonia, Inc. Many unforgettable memories have been made there, going all the way back to that first performance.

“I met my husband, Charles Henry, in this group,” Volkman said, mentioning her husband served as the group’s president and dance instructor, until he passed away in May. “On the way here — the first time we ever came to the Bavarian Inn — we set the date for our wedding.”

Six-year-old Virginia Macintosh rolls her ball into a hole as her eight-year-old cousin, Mason Hockman, looks on, at Oktoberfest on Sunday. Tabitha Johnston

On Sunday, Volkman could be found helping set up the group’s maypole for dancing, before stepping back and watching as her and her husband’s children and grandchildren performed for the bustling crowd at Oktoberfest, for the 60th year-in-a-row.

“I feel honored that they like us and what we stand for,” Volkman said.

A couple of Oktoberfest attendees dance to the music of the Edelweiss Band at the Bavarian Inn on Sunday. Tabitha Johnston