Oktoberfest to be held at Thompson Park
Trending
EAST LIVERPOOL -- The East Liverpool and Calcutta Rotary Clubs will team up again to bring the 12th Annual Oktoberfest to Thompson Park, 2626 Parkway Ave., Saturday.
The free event, which runs from noon to 8 p.m., will be a family friendly one featuring kids activities, craft vendors, food vendors and a beer garden with a variety of beers and wines.
David Bickerton, Calcutta Rotary Club and event chair, said the Oktoberfest originated with the two clubs coming together for the purpose of doing a community event.
"Our two clubs work really well together on a couple of other projects. We do a charity golf scramble to raise money that goes toward area scholarships for the kids and we just really wanted to do an event that wasn't necessarily a fundraiser but just something that the community can enjoy," Bickerton said.
Bickerton noted that there really wasn't an area event like the Oktoberfest and that it was sort of the area's fall festival that they just kind of ran with. It has grown over the years.
According to Bickerton, the event will feature a lot of kids activities as they work to make it as family friendly as possible even through there is the beer.
"We keep that stuff under control and it's not a late-night type of thing," Bickerton said. "We shut it down at 8 p.m. We just really try to emphasize the family environment and that sort of stuff."
The organizations work to bring in new and different elements in for some of the kids activities each year. They also do as much as they can locally in supporting local businesses such as using local restaurants and local entertainment suppliers.
Kids entertainment will include movie characters for meet and greets and photos, a fire truck train, pumpkin painting, face painting, bounce houses, a 40-foot inflatable obstacle course and more. There will be a small charge for face painting and the train ride as those are provided through independent vendors.
The event will feature live musical entertainment with Kevin Solecki, playing polka tunes from noon to 4 p.m., and Patty C and the Guys, a polka band from Cleveland, near the pavilion from 4 to 8 p.m.
The event will also feature nearly 50 local craft vendors with a wide variety of craft items such as seasonal decor, pottery and more. There will also be some vendors for the kids as well.
All the craft vendors will be together near the kids activities in the top loop at the park and separate from the beer garden.
Many of the food vendors who will be located near Pavillion One by the tennis courts with the beer garden will be featuring authentic German food.
Food vendors for the event include Cadence Vault and Chef Ray's Diamond Bar & Grill who will be supplying bratwurst and kraut sandwiches, hot pretzels, pulled pork sandwiches, pierogies and more, Stokes Wood Fired Pizza, Chuck's Gyro's, Deno's Delights, Ziggy's and Sweet Amelia's Homemade Sweets.
Breweries from Ohio and Pittsburgh will feature beer in 10 varieties including Oktoberfest beer which has to be brewed a certain way using certain ingredients to be called Oktoberfest beer.
Beers that will be available include Miller Lite, Sam Adams Octoberfest, Southern Tier Pumpking, Angry Orchard Crisp Apple Cider, Market Garden Prosperity Wheat, Block House Pumpkin Ale, Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, Market Garden Old Zahm Oktoberfest, Lagunitas IPA and Downeast Pumpkin Cider. The event will also feature three wines -- Moscato, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.
Festival goers will be able to purchase a commemorative Oktoberfest stein for their drinks.
Parking to the event is also free. Wee the People have donated two of their transportation vans which will be used for transporting attendees from the parking lot to the event location. Attendees can park at the lower football field. Transportation from the field is free.
The event will also feature a Chinese auction and a 50/50 raffle.
According to Jeanette Bailey, president of the East Liverpool Rotary Club, they currently have about 23 baskets for the auction, with more items coming in. The organizations are still accepting donations for the auction and anyone who wants to donate can reach out to the Rotary on their Facebook Page East Liverpool Rotary or contact them by email at eastliverpoolrotaryclub@gmail.com.
While Oktoberfest is not intended to be a fundraising event, any proceeds left over after expenses from vendor fees, beer sales, 50/50 and Chinese auction will go back into the community through various charities supported by the East Liverpool and Calcutta Rotaries.
"It's supposed to be a beautiful fall weekend with great weather and it's going to be family friendly, so it's a good time for everyone," Bailey said of the event. "We are just looking forward to seeing our community neighbors and our community partners come out and help support East Liverpool."
"We are very excited to hold our 12th annual event which raises funds for Rotary Charities," Bickerton added. "We want to thank all our of local sponsors that help make this event possible, including our event sponsor Prime Healthcare."