Minneapolis' biggest Oktoberfest celebration, the Oktoberfest Fall Festival along the historic riverfront at St. Anthony Main, has been canceled due to the death Tuesday of the event's creator, Ira Heilicher -- a man we're learning posthumously had his hands on many different corners of this city. Read Jon Bream's obituary for a detailed rundown of Heilicher's entrepreneurship, which included the Great American Music record chain and several of the bars and restaurants along St. Anthony Main.

"He liked to keep a low profile in the things he was involved in, but he loved being involved in them," said Sara Collins, director of the Minneapolis Oktoberfest, which was to happen Sept. 9-11. Heilicher concocted the German fest a decade ago to turn more people onto the riverfront, and Collins said it grew in size every year, up to about 10,000 attendees last year.

Another great part of Heilicher's legacy is June's Stone Arch Festival for the Arts, which Collins happily reported will not be in jeopardy the same way the German bash is. Stone Arch is run by a separate nonprofit board that Heilicher helped set up, and "it's essentially self-sustaining at this point," Collins said, whereas the Oktoberfest was in large part privately funded -- and apparently quite expensive to put on. Those German bands do have a way of charging a lot more for gigs come September, after all.

Oktoberfest organizers are promising to return advance payments to vendors and other participants over the next couple weeks. They hope the event can return next year, but the outlook is hazy as a hefe weissen at this point.