I may be seeing things but with the current on the river flowing screen right to screen left, the Octoberfest scene was filmed on the wrong side of the river. Wabasha is on the Mississippi in Minnesota. The film makes it look as though Octoberfest was filmed on the east bank of the river which would be in Wisconsin.
shareThe Oktoberfest scene was actually filmed in Stillwater, MN, which is on the West bank of the river.
Grumpy Old Men Filming Locationsshare
A Photo Tour Of ‘Grumpy Old Men’
And ‘Grumpier Old Men’ Movie Filming
Locations In The Twin Cities Area
In the second movie, Melanie (played by Daryl Hannah) and Jake (Kevin Pollak) are visiting an Oktoberfest celebration when they get into a serious argument. The famous Midwest Oktoberfest is held in La Crosse, Wisconsin, 50 miles down river from Wabasha. Many other communities have smaller local Oktoberfest celebrations. This version of Oktoberfest was staged along the waterfront in Stillwater for the movie. In this photo, we see one of the riverfront park structures with the Stillwater Bridge in the background, similar to the views seen in the movie.
Location: Lowell Park, Stillwater, MN.
http://johnweeks.com/tour/gom/index.html