Sudbury's OktoberFest celebrates second year

A small but dedicated crowd faced the cool fall weather Saturday afternoon to attend Sudbury's second annual OktoberFest.

The Northern Lights OktoberFest, presented by the long-running music festival of the same name and Sudbury’s German Language School, kicked off Friday with a number of musical performers in Bell Park and plenty of beer on tap.

Musical artists the first night included Allison Brown & Uncle Dan, Les Poules A Colin and Freedubstar.

“It was great,” said festival organizer Max Merrifield the next day. Despite the cold, he said people made the best of the evening and took advantage of the festival's various heated tents.

Saturday afternoon the festival featured more family-friendly fare with a few scarecrows children could decorate, face painting, and balloon animals.

The music during the day included more traditional fare, such as Iona Reed-Pukara and Ron Kelly and the Northern Noise Street Band.

In addition to a wide variety of beers from Sudbury’s Stack Brewing, Mantoulin Brewing Company, Big Rock Brewery, Steamwhistle, Muskoka Brewery and others, there were also popular German foods on the menu, such as pretzels, bratwurst sausage and schnitzel.

Merrifield said the festival was a no-brainer with a number of people with German heritage on the Northern Lights board.

Northern Lights musical director Paul Loewenberg's father also helped launch the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest, which is second only to Munich's Oktoberfest in size and scope.

The Saturday evening events are restricted to adults ages 19 and over, and will feature musical performances by the Taylor Knox Band, Turbo Street Funk and Northern Memphis Revival.