Cloverdale’s annual Oktoberfest celebration is switching locations but continuing on this year. The event will be held at the Cloverdale Citrus Fair from noon to 6 p.m on Saturday, Oct. 2.
Traditionally, Cloverdale Kiwanis’ Oktoberfest is held in conjunction with Courtney’s Pumpkin Patch in the Cloverdale Plaza, but the events are splitting up this year. The pumpkin patch will take place in the parking lot of Dahlia & Sage on Oct. 2 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Oktoberfest will involve vendors, live music by the Showcase Band and, provided by the Citrus Fair, a kids zone.
“Now that we’re having it at the Citrus Fair, it’s going to be a lot bigger — our space is bigger,” said Laurie Kneeland, a member of the Kiwanis Club of Cloverdale who organizes the event.
“The Citrus Fair is going to do a kids zone, which is going to be pretty big. They’re going to have face painting, things for kids to do, all kinds of stuff,” Kneeland said. “The kids will have a lot of fun.”
Oktoberfest was partially started as a way to liven up October — usually positioned after Friday Night Live wraps up for the summer and before winter holiday events begin. With Friday Night Live’s modified schedule this year to the pandemic, Kneeland is hoping the addition of Friday night music before the Saturday night event might encourage people to make a weekend out of the activities, resulting in more Oktoberfest attendees.
“We started Oktoberfest 16 years ago and it gets bigger every year,” she said. “We mainly do it as a community event for adults and children to get out and have fun. With the German music, it brings a different type of music to Cloverdale — we can get out there to do the polka and all kinds of stuff.”
The festival is free to attend. Meal tickets for kids age 10 and under are $5 and meal tickets for adults are $12 in advance of the event and $15 on the day of the event. Tickets can be purchased at the Citrus Fair.
Kids meals include a hot dog and chips and adult meals include bratwurst, sauerkraut, German potato salad and dessert. All meals include water, soda, beer or wine. Beer is being provided by Bear Republic and wine is being provided by Kelley & Young.
Proceeds from the Oktoberfest benefit the Kiwanis Club’s administration fund, which handles paying for club costs like storage and other functional fees. Club members are not paid.
“No matter what, we’re going to go out there and have fun,” Kneeland said.
