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| Everyone’s a little bit German in October |
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| Written by Dennis HInes/Stateline News |
| Monday, 17 October 2011 14:01 |
 Folk dancers from Rockford are regular performers at the German Society’s annual Oktoberfest in Loves Park. This year’s festival is Oct. 21-22. Photo via Facebook.com/GermanOktoberfest (Read the full story in the e-edition HERE.) LOVES PARK — “Everybody wants to be German for October,” says Toni Beck. “It’s just like everybody wants to be Irish for St. Patrick’s Day.” And this coming weekend, you won’t have to travel too far. The 47th annual German Society Oktoberfest will be held Oct. 21 and Oct. 22 at Loves Park City Hall located at 100 Heart Blvd. The event will feature barmaid races, a yodeling contest, chicken dance contest, children’s games, a frankfurter toss, German artifacts and performances from folk dancers, polka bands and Southern Heritage. Beck, Oktoberfest chairman, said attendees enjoy the activities that are featured at the event. “We have folk dancers from Rockford who perform six or seven times during the event. It’s a fun event because of the activities.” A new activity for this year’s Oktoberfest is the bier barrel races, which will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 22. “It’s the first year we’ve done the bier barrel race,” said Kathy Gustafson, marketing coordinator for Oktoberfest. “Hopefully, that will end up being a big thing for Oktoberfest. The first-place winner will receive money that they can have donated to a local charity.” One of the more popular activities for Oktoberfest is the Miss Oktoberfest pageant, which will be held from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 21. The contest is open to women who are at least 16 years old, are of German decent or interested in the preservation of German culture. The winning contestant receives a $300 scholarship, and the top three runners-up receive scholarship money as well. “They have to be of German, Austrian or Swiss decent or they have to be interested in German culture,” Beck said. “They can be taking German classes or a part of a German society. We have had some who were not German, but were taking German.” Oktoberfest will feature various types of German and Austrian cuisine and six brands of German beer. Gustafson said many residents attend to sample the food and beverages. “Of course, there will be German food. There will be plenty of that,” Beck said. “The German potato pancakes are a big hit. There’s always a long line for them. We serve them up fast, so there’s a lot of them.” Beck said attendance usually depends on the weather. “It goes up and down. In 2006, we had about 7,500 people. In 2007, it was a cold weekend, and we had about 3,000 people,” Beck said. “In 2008, it rained from 4 o’clock on Friday to 6 o’clock on Sunday, and we had about 2,300 people. If it’s extremely cold or wet, people don’t come out. When we moved the event inside, attendance dropped to 2,200 people. Last year with the economy, we had about 2,000 people. So, we’re hoping to get at least 2,000 people this year.” Beck said volunteers and members of the Oktoberfest committee help make the event a success each year. “It does take a lot of volunteers to do this. We don’t pay them, but we give then free entrance to the event,” Beck said. “We do have an excellent committee. Without the committee, I wouldn’t be able to do this. They put in a lot of time.” Members of the German Society of Rockford begin planning Oktoberfest in February, contacting bands, finding a location, locating equipment and hiring security personnel. Gustafson said the German Society works to make the event as close to the Oktoberfest in Munich as possible. She said she has learned a lot about German culture since being involved with the event. “It’s really intriguing how they try to make it as authentic as possible,” Gustafson said. “It’s very interesting. I’m of German decent, and I’ve learned more about German culture than I expected to learn. They follow Oktoberfest by the book.”
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