The Auroraland German Heritage Society hosted its first-ever local Oktoberfest over the weekend, featuring German food, beer, live music, dancing and more.
The Phillips Park Pavilion was the site for this year’s festival, which ran from 3 to 10 p.m. on Saturday.
Event co-chair Mark Strausberger of Montgomery said he was asked about four months ago by Aurora Ald. Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, if he “would help organize a festival and I didn’t want to turn him down.”
Strausberger said this is the first Oktoberfest event in Aurora in a while. He said the Auroraland German Heritage Society which organized the event is a not-for-profit organization.
“We are doing this to help support Phillips Park and the growth of Phillips Park and its recognition,” Strausberger added. “The German heritage on the East Side of Aurora goes way, way back. We want to retry to build that and a portion of our proceeds will go to the park.”
Mesiacos said along with celebrating that heritage the new Oktoberfest event also centers on helping Phillips Park.
“I started off with one of the chairmen here and the whole idea is to pay homage to the 3rd Ward which used to be heavily Germanic inhabited. My neighbors were all German when I was a kid,” he said. “At the same time, it’s about Phillips Park, bringing awareness to Phillip Park which gets a portion of the proceeds to help fund improvements here.”
Strausberger before the event boasted that “an incredible cook would be on hand – a chef that taught at the Joliet Community College for about 30 years as a well-known chef.”
“He’s a buddy of mine and he’s flown up from Florida just to prepare all the food. We had a sample of it the other day before we opened and it’s fabulous,” Strausberger said before the event. “We’re hoping people will come in and enjoy the good German food and the great German beers. We also have two authentic German bands playing.”
Keith Vonhoff, of Cape Coral, Florida, was manning a grill and other cooking equipment at the fest on Saturday and said his trip all the way to Aurora was about his friendship with Strausberger.
“(Strausberger’s) a good friend of mine,” Vonhoff said. “We’re childhood friends, and friendship knows no bounds.”
Despite a slight drizzle that accompanied the opening of the fest on Saturday, many were seen inside the pavilion sipping a beer and enjoying plates of food as a German band played in a nearby tent.
Gregory Braun said he was of German heritage and was excited about “the food – getting some sauerkraut and some nice red potatoes.”
“This has a universal appear like St. Patrick’s Day. I think it’s the beer,” Braun said with a laugh. “It’s about the fellowship. I got here with my son and my wife and we’re going to grab some food and enjoy some music.”
Leo Ahasic of Aurora was sporting a German hat and was enjoying a beer at the fest.
More Top Picks Best 4k Monitors For Home Offices
“I’m Austrian and Slovenian but I was at Munich last year for the real Oktoberfest,” Ahasic said.
“The one in Munich is the big daddy and it’s really awesome,” he said at the Aurora event. “I think they’ve made this as authentic as they can.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.