Chamber Confirms: No Oktoberfest This Year

If you’re a fan of Montgomery’s annual Oktoberfest celebration, we’ve got good and bad news for you.

The bad news: after a decade of putting on the fest, the Greater Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce has decided not to organize it this year. The silver lining? Although there will be no festival, the village of Montgomery will still hold its annual River Run 5K.

Jennifer Jones-Sinnott, president of the chamber board, said Oktoberfest had just not been bringing the money in the way it used to. The fest, which took place in the VFW lot on River Street, was created as a fundraiser for the chamber, to support scholarships the group hands out each year.

But for the last three years, she said, the return has not outweighed the investment of time and energy.

“I know the community loves Oktoberfest,” she said, “but in reality, for it to have cost the chamber to put on the event, to spend off of our bottom line, doesn’t make sense either.”

Last year’s fest, she said, brought in a very small amount of money, and the board decided at that time to bring things to a halt. Further complicating matters: Chief Tom Meyers, who had spearheaded the Oktoberfest committee for years, has stepped down from the board.

The chamber did not announce the event’s cancellation, Jones-Sinnott said, which has led to some questions in the community about whether it would go on this year.

Jones-Sinnott said the economy has taken its toll on the chamber, as it has for other similar organizations around the country. Board members are all volunteers, she said, and they’ve been forced to come up with new, creative ways to accomplish their mission.

The chamber will still host the tree-lighting ceremony in December, Jones-Sinnott said, and will add a tree-decorating contest to the program this year. And the organization has just launched an ambassador program, to help recruit and maintain members.

“There needs to be a little bit of creativeness and change,” she said.

But the 5K River Run, a staple of Oktoberfest weekend for the past seven years, will go on, according to village officials. It is scheduled for Oct. 1 at 9 a.m., kicking off at . There will be a 5K run and a 3K walk, with live music before and after the race.

Debbie Buchanan, executive assistant to the village manager, said the 5K has drawn 180 runners so far this year, and she expects about 90 more to sign up on the day of the race.

For more information on the River Run, call Rachel Lange at 630-896-8080 ext. 1115, or email her at lange@ci.montgomery.il.us.