Yorktoberfest helping kick off fall festival season with food, craft beer and music

It is billed as the largest nonprofit event to come to the Fox River.

The seventh annual Yorktoberfest will return to downtown Yorkville on Sept. 27 and 28. The popular event is put on by the Kiwanis Club of Yorkville and proceeds from Yorktoberfest will go to the Kiwanis Club of Yorkville Illinois Foundation, a nonprofit organization.

The proceeds will be used to fund scholarships and grant programs for local students who have shown a commitment to serving others within the community. This year, the club started two grant programs.

“We partnered with Indian Valley Vocational Center in Sandwich and as well as the Yorkville Educational Foundation and we now provide each one of those entities a $5,000 grant,” said Jason Pesola, chairman of the Yorktoberfest committee and the club’s president-elect. “The grant for Indian Valley Vocational Center, for example, goes toward welding bibs and carpenter belts and steel toe boots, things like that. We found that is a great need.”

In addition, he said the grant program for the Yorkville Educational Foundation will help families pay for such things as registration fees for taking ACT and SAT tests. Pesola sees the grants as just another way to help families.

Admission to the festival is free.

For those who attend this year’s Yorktoberfest, they will find plenty of food, craft beer and music. Yorktoberfest will take place from 4 to 10 p.m. Sept. 27 and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sept. 28 at Riverfront Park East in downtown Yorkville.

“It’s basically an Octoberfest with a Yorkville twist,” Pesola said.

Yorktoberfest at one time had been held in the middle of October. But organizers decided to move up the date because of cold temperatures.

“Members of the bands, especially the bands that played at night, would literally say to us, ‘My fingers are freezing,’ “ Pesola said.

Yorktoberfest is a popular festival. Last year, about 5,000 people attended.

Pesola believes even more people will attend this year’s festival because of the strong music lineup, including Hillbilly Rockstarz at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27, Alexandra Lee at 5 p.m. Sept. 28 and Tim Gleason at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28.

“We really have amped it up this year,” Pesola said. “Normally, we play house music prior to the bands going on. But this year, we’re going to have live music from the moment we open up at 4 p.m. Friday until we close and the moment we open up at 11 a.m. Saturday until we close.”

Prior to the headlining bands taking the stage each night, the festival will feature a stein holding contest from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. The contest is open to the first 36 people who make their way up to the stage each night.

The winner from the first night of the contest will compete against the winner from the second night in the grand championship.

“These steins are 32 ounces and they’re made of glass,” Pesola said. “It’s survival of the fittest. Everyone loves it. It’s a great staple of Yorktoberfest.”

Of course, German music also will be part of the festival. Frank & Fran will perform from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. Sept. 28 and Fritz & The Pretzel Twists will perform from 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. Sept. 28.

Other activities include face painting, cardboard canoe races and the Rescued Rascals dog adoption event.

The Kiwanis Club of Yorkville relies heavily on volunteers to put on the event.

“Without our volunteers, this event would literally not happen,” he said.

To volunteer or for more information about Yorktoberfest, go to kiwanisyorktoberfest.org.