On Oct. 5, the local community of Royal Center came together at Rea Park to sponsor an event with over 600 people. Oktoberfest came alongside a 5k run and walk. This annual event provides everyone with a day full of exciting autumn activities like pumpkin painting, music bands, and food.
The German tradition of celebrating Oktoberfest has existed for a while. Last Saturday was the fourth annual Oktoberfest event at Royal Center.
“Rea Park first organized their first Oktoberfest in 2020,” Paige Woodhouse said. “It was first planned as a fundraiser to improve the park. Now, the purpose has shifted, and it’s used as a place of entertainment open to the public.”
Several people bought and supported the vendor stands. The people were fascinated and lined up by the tattoo and face paint station.
“I spent lots of money in the art section,” Lizbeth Yanez said. “One of the ladies attending me and helping me apply the tattoo had a real tattoo of a plant that I have at home. It looked so marvelous and inspiring that it changed my mind about whether I would ever get a real tattoo.”
It isn’t cheap to host an event that’s so time consuming and space-occupying as well as lively. The quantity of space was enough to fit 500-1000 people at the event.
“Currently, it costs about $4,000 to host the event,” Woodhouse said. “We try to raise this money through donations to help cover the cost of bands, entertainment, prizes and supplies.”
Another vendor represented the community’s backpack program and had food, quilts and raffle tickets.
“We suffice a small part of the community with food for the kids with around 25 to 75 bags per week,” Sandy Little said. “This is our 16th year doing the program with the weekend feeding. We are funded through donations, which mainly come from churches. We are here today to inform more people that we exist.”
There were many activities, including pig wrestling, a pedal tractor race, and the hay bale tossing contest, which had the most spectators.
“My favorite thing to do was watch the hay bale tossing contest,” Reina Richards said. “I enjoyed seeing different varieties of people from tall to short trying to get it over the goal. In the end, the guy with the best technique outdid the strongest and tallest.”
Last year’s result from the 5k was severely different from this year’s. The main reason is the IHSAA rule, which prevents in-season student-athletes from participating in other events.
“Last year, the winners of the 5k were Travyn Eytchenson and Jolene Kennell,” Woodhouse said. “This year, we had sixth grader, Tate Berry, with 24 minutes 44 seconds. Jolene was unable to run this year because she is a high school cross-country runner. We still had 16 runners signed up for the race, though.”
