Marketing an event means I have to write blogs. I honestly don’t mind blogs, it’s just that I forget or put them on the back burner and before I know it – a week has flown by. I feel as though time is going faster and faster and writing about the 5th Annual Flagstaff Oktoberfest is a perfect example of how fast time does fly! 5th Annual – wow! Five years of growing crowds, growing contests and more fun! When I first decided to put on the Oktoberfest I knew it was the beginning of Peak Events moving from a corporate and private event company into a MUCH bigger arena. Scared can’t even begin to describe how I felt before the 1st Oktoberfest, and now I’m at year 5 and although I’m no longer afraid of my capabilities, I’m always anxious. I want everything to be perfect at the festivals; I want the beer to be ice cold, the food to be interesting, the vendors to be worth visiting, the contests to be fun and worthwhile, the music to be dance worthy, and on and on and on. However, the thought most present in my mind before a festival is “Did we improve on last year?” Will people find this festival worth their time and will they want to spend the day enjoying everything that we’ve done?
Now, I’ll be the first to admit, the attendees have NEVER made me feel pressure like what I put on myself. This is the 5th Annual Flagstaff Oktoberfest – a milestone, an accomplishment that I’m quite proud of and I want this one to be better than any of the others! So, Jennifer and I talked about what would make this the best festival to date. We went to Nackard, our beer distributor and told them we wanted more German Beers and they agreed, so in May – they put in the order to Germany and 30 days after the order was made, our beer was shipped (literally on ships) and 90 days later, I’m happy to say we have more German Beer than we’ve previously had onsite. Who knew German Beer took so long to ship? Then, we decided we needed to step up our game on the contests. The contests at Oktoberfest are very popular and we decided that we wanted the prizes to be worth getting up on stage and yodeling, costuming, dancing, holding beer steins, stuffing cars, and eating brats. So, we’ve come up with some amazing prizes from some great businesses in town, we hope everyone will enter and try to win!
We’ve also upped our game at the kid’s area with Party Central and Fit Moms of Flagstaff! One of the things I love most about the Flagstaff Oktoberfest is the sound of kids laughing and playing. I love kids and by making sure our kid’s area is fun, safe and secure I get to walk by throughout the day and hear kids having fun while jumping in bounce houses, doing crafts and getting their faces painted. Last, but by no means least there is the music of Oktoberfest. Big Willie and the Polka Meisters have opened our festival for the last five years! Once that oompah music starts, and the accordions get started it immediately feels right. We’re also bringing back Polka Katzan – they have been with us for the last three years and they provide wonderful music for dancing. The Buzzard Brothers will be back for the 2nd year and topping it off, we went to social media and asked the fans who they would like and Buckit seemed to top the requests, so this years’ 5th Annual Flagstaff Oktoberfest will be headlined by Buckit a very popular band that we hope you will all enjoy.
So, on October 5th, make sure you make plans to attend the 5th Annual Flagstaff Oktoberfest, the last festival of the season in Wheeler Park and a great way to kick off fall in Flagstaff!
Debbi