The Tempe Town Lake district welcomed the 51st Annual Four Peaks Brewing Oktoberfest this past weekend. The yearly event takes place during the first full week of October and serves as a major fundraiser for the Tempe Sister Cities program.
The Sister Cities initiative partners with eleven cities throughout the world to foster student, educator and professional cross-cultural experiences aimed at bridging cultural divides and connecting communities through a shared love of food, music and festivities. The event is staffed entirely by volunteers - many working long hours to prepare and promote the festival after their day jobs come to a close.
“No one cares more about the festival more than the folks who help organize and run this thing,” event producer Mike O’hara says.
“Everything is local - the food, the vendors, the musicians, the sound tech, and then we have an amazing army of volunteers. They make it happen. This doesn’t happen without them," he notes.
While a handful of musicians might not be able to claim Tempe as their first home, they feel a strong kindred spirit to the locals here. Musician Uli Ruckdaeshel of Regensburg, Germany (one of Tempe’s sister cities), has been a part of the German folk brass section Aubachtalsextett, a collection of German musicians who have been providing authentic musical accompaniment for over twenty years.
“I absolutely love it. It’s not that different from the festivals at home. I mean, it’s hotter, and there are things that the Germans take more seriously. But at heart, they are grounded in the same thing, which is to have a good time with friends and family. It’s the best,” Ruckdaeshel says.
The numbers are still being finalized, but it looked as though the festival was on track to meet or exceed previous yearly records of more than 75,000 visitors over the three-day event.
“This is the big one for us, our largest event, the way we always want to give back to our community. We want to always make sure that the experience is building off of previous years, because it helps build up our town, the city, all of us in innumerable ways.” Four Peaks marketing director Trevor Needle explains.
“It really brings in all sorts of people, and it helps make connections, both here in our city and around the world. Good food and good beer, they make us more neighborly. There’s not a lot of rocket science to it," he says.
All proceeds for the event will continue to go back to the Tempe Sister Cities Program to foster cultural exchange between Arizona and its global partners. Here's a look at this year's festivities.
