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player ready...Lederhosen and dirndls were encouraged for Saturday’s family-friendly fall festival, Glenview’s largest communitywide event of 2021.
Blocktoberfest was a collaboration between the Glenview Chamber of Commerce, Friends of Downtown Glenview, Ten Ninety Brewing Company, and the merchants of downtown Glenview. The Village of Glenview provided police, fire and public works, and the Glenview Park District all came together to hold this communitywide event.
“People are hungry to get out and socialize and an event like this one really provides joy and entertainment to all ages,” Meghan Kearney, executive director of the Glenview Chamber of Commerce said.
The event was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“With 10,000 in attendance in 2019, we hoped to come close to that number this year,” Kearney said.
The second annual Blocktoberfest was held from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. along Glenview Road between Church and Pine streets. The event was free to the public and offered a VIP area in the breezeway of the Midtown Square Apartments for prime views of bands and other amenities, for the preregistered ticket price of $100 per person.
Food and beverages, including craft beer and wine were available for purchase and a full schedule of music throughout the day was performed on two stages.
A kid’s zone provided special crafts, performances and activities.
“After an unpredictable year it’s good to see Glenview families out enjoying themselves on this a beautiful day,” Kristen Dallman of Glenview said.
Kearney says the music offerings are what make Blocktoberfest unique.
The festival offered a mix of local bands like Funktastic and Artificially Hip, emerging acts like Joanna Connor, with German inspired entertainment from Die Musikmeisters, and the evening headliner, Tributosaurus, renowned around Chicagoland, organizers say.
Elsa Wattenbarger attended on Saturday with her family.
“We just moved to Glenview so our family was anxious to come out to connect with new friends and neighbors,” Wattenbarger said.
“Our family heritage is German and we have Lederhosen and dirndl dresses that have been passed down for generations, today seemed like a good time to pull those out,” Wattenbarger said.
Michael Helmeke, originally from Hamburg, Germany, lives in Chicago and attended Blocktoberfest with family living in Glenview.
“Blocktoberfest is more family-friendly than a typical Octoberfest celebration in Germany, this is a very sane and tame festival in comparison — what’s similar is the beer, brats and German music,” Helmeke said.