The weather may have been rainy and wet less than a day earlier, but organizers of St. Joseph School’s 2015 Oktoberfest celebration could breathe a sigh of relief when Saturday, Sept. 19, dawned clear and sunny, school Principal Laszlo Katona said.
“The weather was beautiful and we had a tremendous number of visitors. It was just a great, great time,” he said.
The long-running school festival, one of its major fundraisers, is also an opportunity for parish members to get together, and for people from outside the parish to get to know it, Katona said.
Oktoberfest kicked off early with an antiques market that attracted more than 40 vendors, then continued with a family festival that featured children’s games and attractions as well as family-friendly snacks and burgers.
Entertainment for older members of the family began after a 5 p.m. mass, with a fundraising dinner and music from a traditional German “oompah” band, organizer Marnie Hundley said.
Hundley, Oktoberfest’s co-chair for daytime activities, estimated that between 1,000 and 2,000 people visited the event’s antiques fair, its family festival, and the evening’s dinner and dance.
In fact, the family festival portion of Oktoberfest was so popular that it closed almost an hour later than planned, because so many families wanted to spend more time there,” Hundley said.
“We had people coming in constantly, a steady flow of people all day,” she said.
“One of the greatest things was seeing a lot of people that I didn’t know, who weren’t from our parish,” Katona said “A lot of people approached me from other parishes, from other schools in Wilmette, saying they had wanted to drop in. That was great for me to hear.”
He and Hundley said the festival’s popularity has grown steadily since it began in 2003.
“It has evolved from an even that was really something for the St. Joe’s community, to one that took in the entire Wilmette community,” Hundley said.
She said this year’s organizing committee decided to honor members of the parish families who put together the very first Oktoberfest.
When volunteers found the original Oktoberfest logo print, “We had it framed, and we honored some of the original families who were involved at our dinner. We also provided traditional German beer steins to the families who started Oktoberfest,” she said.
The special presentation was a surprise to the families, Katona said.
Hundley praised the more than 50 volunteers who helped her and night time co-chair Lourdes Arencibia bring Oktoberfest to life.
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“Planning for next year has already begun,” Hundley said. “It’s a big, big event.”
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy