Oktoberfest started with a good crowd, and 300 brats later it was undeniably a success.

Black River Falls held its annual Oktoberfest on Saturday, and it’s estimated between 1,500 and 2,000 people came out to take part — triple the attendance from last year.

“It was a huge success,” said Barb Brower, executive director of the Black River Area Chamber of Commerce. “We were very happy with the number of people that showed up.”

This was the second year in a row the chamber teamed up with the Black River Falls Downtown Association and Sand Creek Brewery to put on the fall event. This year, the kids activities were expanded and a Foundation Trail walk and an antique car and motorcycle show were added.

Brower credits earlier planning and promotion of the event as keys to the larger draw.

“Last year we started late in advertising the event,” she said. “This year we did a better job of getting the word out and letting everyone know about it

“We had a lot of good planning this time, and I think you can give a lot of credit to the people on the (planning) committee who put everything together.”

Darren Durman, president of the downtown association, said the response from residents and attendees was and has been very positive.

“I thought it went very well,” Durman said. “I’ve heard nothing but positive comments about it.”

With most events taking place along Pierce Street near Sand Creek, vendors were present as well as live music.

“There was a nice variety of things for people to buy, and the music is always a plus no matter what you’re going to,” Brower said. “Of course when you have food, entertainment and a good, nice, sunny day and it’s a family event you can bring children to, I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be a success.”

Kevin Tegels, who owns Tegarosa Cattle Company, was in charge of the grilling and smoking of the food. He said over 700 meals were served, which included over 300 brats and about 200 hot dogs and also meals from 30 cooked pork loins.

“It was busy,” Tegels said. “I would say this is the single biggest event I’ve done this year.”

A ceremonial tapping of the golden beer keg was held at 1 p.m. with Mayor Ron Danielson doing the honors.

While the event was held in Black River Falls, Oktoberfest was marketed as a Jackson County-wide event, and area businesses joined in with special sales. Brower said she even met people from the La Crosse, Chippewa Falls and Greenwood areas.

“It was definitely reaching out,” she said.

This year also featured a medallion hunt where clues were scattered about local businesses. Winners received “Chamber Bucks” of $75, $50 and $25. First place went to Emma and Rebecca Ross; second place went to Bethany Redbird; and third place went to Andy Ellingson.

“I just went around to the businesses and collected the clues,” Ellingson said. “It was pretty neat.”

A dessert and pumpkin decorating contest was held as well.

In the dessert contest, which had to be made from apples or pumpkins, first place went to Kathy Camlek for her pumpkin torte, second place went to Arlene Dunnigan for her apple pie pizza and third place went to Judy Hawley for her pumpkin crunch. The first-place winner received a gift basket while the others received Chamber Bucks.

Winners in the pumpkin decorating contest received gift cards from Wal-Mart and included:

in the 0- to 4-year-old category, Katie Sedelbauer took first and Jayme Koenigs took second;

in the 5- to 8-year-old category, Trey Emery took first;

in the 9- to 12-year-old category, Kacey Koenigs took first and Natile Danielson took second; and

in the 19-and-older category, Candese Otterson took first and Chari Dietzler took second.

Brower said the planning committee intends to meet soon and discuss this year’s event and talk about any changes or additions to next year. Both Brower and Durman said it’s hoped that Oktoberfest could be expanded to two days in the future.

“It’s just something that we just want to keep building and hopefully add some other events and organizations if we can,” Durman said.

Brower said she appreciated the help of those who made the event possible.

“I just want to say thanks to the local community for their support and area businesses that participated during the day as well,” Brower said. “Cross promotion is a big thing when doing something like this and it helps get more people to come out.”

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