The Black Forest Community Center has been the site of Black Forest Oktoberfest celebrations for several years. Always very popular, the Black Forest Community Oktoberfest features live music, German food, drinks, and dancing. This year’s Oktoberfest was on Saturday, October 30^th from 3:00pm – 6:30pm and was held outdoors at the Black Forest Community Center in the parking lot and Log School Park. The Community Trunk-Or-Treat was in the Backyard Area of the Community Center and took place from 4:00pm – 6:30pm.

During Oktoberfest, the fantastic team of volunteers served brats, hot dogs, pretzels, tangerines, and cookies. Hot cider, hot chocolate, hot coffee, and water were also served. The food and drinks were a hit with the Black Forest Community and over 200 brats and 50 hot dogs were served. We would like to extend a very special thank you to Brian McKellar for donating the brats, to Louie and Dawn from Louie’s pizza for donating all the cooking and serving supplies and to Dawn for cooking such fabulous brats, and to the R&R Coffee Café for the donations of hot cider, hot chocolate, and hot coffee. Food and drinks were provided on a donation basis, and thanks to the support of the generous Black Forest Community, we raised close to $1,000 for the Community Center, which will be added to the ongoing “Raise the Roof” campaign.

Food was not the only attraction during Oktoberfest. We thoroughly enjoyed live music played by the local Das Half Pint Band. It was such a treat to listen to this amazing group of musicians! In addition, the Log School Park was decorated for Halloween with fun and spooky decorations which many families enjoyed. The legendary Orange Truck returned to the Log School Park and was beautifully decorated and offered great photo opportunities. The Orange Truck will remain decorated in the Log School Park through Thanksgiving, so make sure to visit and take some pictures.

Finally, we held the first-ever Black Forest Carved Pumpkin contest. Families brought their carved pumpkins to put on display with the decorations in the Log School Park. The Carved Pumpkin Contest was divided into three age categories: elementary school; middle and high school; and adult. Prizes were awarded for each age group, with the judging completed by members of our Black Forest Heritage Families.

The second Black Forest Community Trunk-Or-Treat was also a great time. This may have to be an annual event! We attempted to count the kids coming through, but we counted more than 400 kids in the first 30 minutes, so we gave up and simply counted the event as a success. All in all, we estimate at least 1,200 kids came through the Trunk-Or-Treat. We had close to 30 Trunks participate, which were hosted by local families and businesses. The community generously donated candy to supplement the candy provided by our Trunks, and we went through every bit of donated candy.

Thank you to all that volunteered to be Trunks, and to all of our event volunteers that worked hard for several months to make these events a reality. Thank you to the Das Half Pint Band, Louie’s Pizza, R&R Coffee Café and Brian McKellar. And a big thank you to the Black Forest Community for coming out and enjoying these events. We love Black Forest!