Cincinnati's one-day convergence of college football, professional baseball and German beer drew thousands downtown Saturday to make the biggest weekend in years and possibly the largest Oktoberfest ever.

        The University of Cincinnati-Ohio State University football game at Paul Brown Stadium made for the largest sporting event in the city's history: 66,319.

        The Reds played a day-night doubleheader as they said farewell to Cinergy Field. The evening game was a sellout but the day game only had 13,821 in attendance out of 36,940 tickets sold.

        The biggest gripes: gridlock after the games and high parking prices in garages and parking lots. Locations along Third Street that usually charge $10 on a game day jacked the cost up as high as $25. People shook their heads as they read the signs, but drove in anyway.

        “Yeah, we paid 25 bucks,” said Rob Mears, a Buckeye fan who drove in from Columbus and wanted a prime spot to tailgate before watching Ohio State. “It's a lot, but we split it five ways.”

        No arrests were reported by Saturday evening, although officers towed about 20 illegally parked cars and monitored several groups of juveniles who walked through the Oktoberfest crowd. Police were looking for the person who ran past a young boy and ripped off the $10 the boy had pinned to his shirt. The money-pinning was a family tradition — it was the child's birthday, police Capt. Greg Snider said.

        The police department scheduled a special traffic detail because the events attracted so many people downtown — a lieutenant, two sergeants and 16 officers, mostly directing traffic.

        Medical technicians reported tending only to blistered feet throughout the day.

        The Reds day game got Oktoberfest cranked up early, with fans using the festival as their warmup. Also boosting the early crowd were people finishing the benefit walk for AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati. That ended about 11 a.m., as Oktoberfest opened.

        That made for extra early sales for the food and drink booths. At Ron's Roost, people were lined up three deep for hot bacon slaw by the time workers were ready to open.

        “It's been great for us,” said Ron Larkin, who decided after a three-year hiatus to bring the west-side restaurant back to the fall event because of all the coinciding events.

        Ray Buse, public relations manager for the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, said it proved the city “can throw a great party for a half million-plus people.”

        The chamber did a media blitz early, he said, in Columbus, urging OSU fans to head down for Oktoberfest.

        OSU fans weren't fazed by the huge crowds of people packing sidewalks, running into each other on street corners. This was the kind of party they think should accompany every Buckeye game.

        “The more people, the better,” said Pam Sagraves of Columbus. “This is great.”

        Her group made downtown hotel reservations three months ago. By Saturday night, their biggest concern was finding a place for the post-game party.

        “Everybody's having a great time,” said Peter Schmidt of Loveland, whose group snagged a table outside the Fifth & Vine bar/restaurant. “Everybody wants to just watch their games and be German.”

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