White-and-blue-checkered tablecloths, locally brewed beer and a mariachi band turned a church parking lot into an “OktoberFiesta” wonderland Saturday.
The second annual Oktoberfest-themed celebration — a Munich folk festival featuring beer, traditional food and entertainment — was jointly hosted by St. John XXIII Parish and Pope John XXIII School, drawing a crowd of over 500 attendees.
“It’s just wonderful because this is one of those things that you can’t do unless you have a fully engaged and really cohesive community,” longtime parishioner Christie Klimas said.
Klimas and her husband, Mark Potosnak, played large roles in organizing the event and were part of a team of over 50 volunteers — most of whom are associated with the hosting organizations.
The idea for “OktoberFiesta” was born out of the annual block party St. Mary Church used to host. But, after St. Mary and St. Nicholas Church merged to form St. John XXIII Parish in 2022, the parishioners decided they wanted to expand the event to welcome more community members.
“Since St. Nick’s has a large Spanish-speaking population, we wanted to make it cross-cultural,” Potosnak said. “So, instead of Oktoberfest, it’s OktoberFiesta.”
The cultural meshing showed clearly in the food: German and Mexican cuisines were both available in the form of pretzels, tacos and more.
Entertainment included a mid-afternoon set by Mariachi Morelos, who took requests and had the crowd dancing in the sun with songs like “El Mariachi Loco.” In the evening, band Switchback presented a whole range of music: folk, Irish, rock and country music, all with a “special German flair,” as the website described.
No Oktoberfest event is complete without beer, which was provided by Sketchbook Brewing Company and Double Clutch Brewing Company. Cazadores Tequila brought tequila, and Advanced Periodontics & Implants also sponsored a wine bar.
Resident Emily Webb Price, co-president of Pope John XXIII School’s parent association and school board member, helped run the OktoberFiesta Grand Raffle, raising money for the school and parish. Price’s family has been involved with Pope John XXIII School for over 13 years, she said.
“We really love all the people and how everybody comes together to help each other with anything you can think of,” Price said. “They’ve continued to be really an amazing, amazing support system for us.”
Event organizers began planning OktoberFiesta in January, and just a month ago, they decided to boost their security in light of recent events, Potosnak said.
Four Evanston police officers “trained to handle immigration issues” were in attendance in case of ICE presence at the event, Potosnak said. The road was also blocked off with heavy duty barriers.
“We are trying to be really safety conscious with everything to protect our parishioners,” Potosnak said.
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