It started as a way to help Our Lady of the Lake’s school become financially self-sufficient. But in the five years since the giant white tent rose over OLL’s parking lot, Oktoberfest has become an opportunity for the Catholic church to teach many different people about who it is and what it offers.
“It has become a moment of evangelization,” reflected OLL’s pastor, Father Mike Hanly, shortly before his retirement this summer. “We’ve gotten people from the parish, from the town and beyond. Some have no church, but they all come together.”
Oktoberfest was the brainchild of Father Bryan Page, a former associate pastor at OLL. He rallied the school’s parents around the idea of a fundraiser that could make it self-sufficient–and keep it that way. The church had been dialing back the parish contribution to the school over the previous two decades, and with Catholic schools closing elsewhere it became crucial for OLL’s school to have a financial foundation as solid as that of its building.
Still, no one expected that Oktoberfest would have become the go-to event of Verona’s fall. “After the first one happened,” said Father Mike, “the police came up to me and said it was so incredible to see people walking the streets of Verona, all walking to OLL.”
Nor did they anticipate that what started out as a festival for the parish’s drinking-age members would turn into something that serves everyone from toddlers on up.
The 17,000-square-foot tent that was used for the first Oktoberfest was set up several days ahead. It was lovely to behold, but it seemed to call out for something to be happening beneath the white canvas. And so it was that, the next year, the organizing committee decided to hold a festival for children the day before the main event, Kinderfest, with its own line-up of food, music and low-cost activities.
It was easy to put an inflatable slide, a moonwalk and even a climbing wall under the tent, and the stage was opened to teenage bands, many of which included members of OLL’s Youth Group. Those Youth Group members who were not on stage found themselves running the crafts and events. Kinderfest will celebrate its fourth year of operation this fall, on Friday, October 3.
Throughout its run, Oktoberfest has had the support of many businesses from Verona and neighboring towns. B&G Foods, Cameco, E&M O’Hara electrical, Eight Hills Caterers, Frank Anthony’s, Frungillo Caterers and Hillcrest Farms have supported the event for all five years, and many more sponsors have joined them along the way. “We would never have been able to do it without these sponsors,” said Father Mike.
What have they gotten for their sponsorship? For starters, the satisfaction that OLL’s school is now almost entirely self-sufficient. It has been able to update its science program and expand its use of computers. “The school is 90 years old,” said Father Mike, “so there are things that needed to be done.”
As the school has become financially independent, it has also won awards for its academics, being named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2011. Enrollment has risen, and the school is so in demand now that there is a waiting list for some grades.
The lessons of Oktoberfest aren’t, to be sure, what’s top of mind when the music is playing and the beer taps are open. On that October night, the parking lot that is usually a very unremarkable part of Verona’s landscape becomes the center of all activity as old friendships are rekindled and new ones are made.
For Father Mike, it’s no accident. “The word ‘church’ means ‘gathering’,” he noted, “and we’re gathering people together in a tent.”
“It has blossomed into something we had never really planned,” said Father Mike. “It’s wonderful how it has taken root in the town.”
The fifth Oktoberfest will be held on Saturday, October 4, from 6 to 11 p.m. Individual tickets are $65 before it opens. On the night of the event, any remaining tickets will be $75. For more information, click here.
