Tempe Sister Cities Corporation, a nonprofit global student exchange program, will host the 40th Oktoberfest at Tempe Town Lake Oct. 12-14. All proceeds will go to TSC. (Photo by Ana Ramirez)There is more to Oktoberfest than trying different types of beer, eating bratwursts and hanging out with friends.
One Tempe organization wants residents to remember: It’s a time for family and coming together with Tempe’s community.
For the 40th year, Tempe Sister Cities Corporation, a nonprofit global student exchange program, will host Tempe’s Oktoberfest. All proceeds will go to TSC.
The free event, which runs from Oct. 12 to 14 at Tempe Town Lake, features 15 German beers, wine, cider, carnival rides, live music, polka and a wiener race.
Tempe Town Lake event coordinator Bobbi Jones started volunteering at the event in 2003.
“(Oktoberfest) is about a celebration to bring people together,” Jones said.
Each year, TSC finds nearly 2,000 volunteers to help run the event, she said.
“It’s a work of a community,” Jones said.
During the three-day event, nearly 150,000 people come through the gates to enjoy the festivities by the lake.
Each day features a large event. There will be a parade Friday night, the Das 21st Frank Kush/Oktoberfest Foot Race on Saturday and a wiener race with 35 dachshunds on Sunday.
“The winner will be crowned wiener of the day,” Jones said. “Every dog deserves his day.”
Although the event is free, people will need to purchase $1 tickets to buy food, drinks or rides.
There will be family pricing of 20 percent off throughout the weekend. The discount will be from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. on Friday, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday and all day on Sunday.
Beer will cost three to six tickets and food, two to five tickets depending on the purchase, said Jones.
She said it is worth it for the cause and there are plenty of items in the two to three ticket range.
“When you buy a beer, you’re keeping 80 percent of that in the local neighborhood,” she said.
TSC has eight international sister cities including Regensburg, Germany, Zhenjiang, China, and Timbuktu, Mali.
For more than 40 years, TSC has donated money for schools, cattle, wheel chairs and other necessities to the sister cities.
The organization also donates 80 percent of its proceeds locally to student, professional and educator exchange programs, youth groups and humanitarian programs.
Oktoberfest co-chair Larry West said about 90 percent of TSC funding comes from the event.
This year, TSC will have 10 malt beer stations and three food booths. TSC and Frank Kush Youth Foundation run the Das 21st Frank Kush/Oktoberfest Foot Race that will also raise money for charity.
Justice and political science alumnus Paul Sheard has been the beer chair for four years and started volunteering 12 years ago after his older brother participated in a student exchange program through TSC.
“I started out by picking up trash,” he said.
Sheard continued volunteering and ended up participating in the same student exchange program as his brother had two years earlier. He spent five weeks in Zhenjiang.
He said he has continued volunteering because he feels like he is indebted to the organization for everything he learned and is still learning.
“You couldn’t add a value to it,” he said.
Sheard, who was born and raised in Tempe, said he likes giving back to his community.
Justice studies and communications alumna Laura Johnson is the spokeswoman and ticket chair for this years Oktoberfest.
Johnson stayed in Germany for two months in the summer of 2007 as part of TSC’s professional exchange program.
She said she enjoyed her stay in Germany and has continued volunteering at Oktoberfest for eight years.
“It’s just so much fun and amazing in itself,” she said. “It’s rewarding knowing the proceeds go to charity.”
Johnson said her favorite part of the event is at night.
“(It’s) on a Saturday night when everything comes together, when the sun is setting over the bridge, the carnival rides are all lit up and everyone seems to be having a wonderful time,” she said.
Reach the reporter at amrami13@asu.edu
