What started as a local Oktoberfest celebration in the 1970s, German Fest has been cancelled this year. It is unclear if the tradition will be reinstated next June.
The cancellation comes after village staff told Harlem Männer und Damenchor — the choir and cultural group that organizes German Fest — that they could likely no longer host the event on the village-owned Grove at the Altenheim property, as the group had for the past decade.
After last June’s German Fest, Village Administrator Rachell Entler sent Peter Herdeg — longtime president of Harlem Männer und Damenchor — an email in July informing him that the village had approved for the nonprofit Opportunity Knocks to use a portion of the Grove for a small garden space. As a result, she wrote, Harlem Männer und Damenchor would likely no longer be able to host German Fest there. Herdeg said the group was shocked and disappointed by the news.
“The Grove was perfect,” Herdeg told the Review. On the north side of the village-owned property at the Altenheim, there’s a pavilion and power source, plus space for a large tent, about 40 picnic tables and a way to hook up trailers for a bar and food.
Entler told the Review that, while the village is still working out an official land use agreement with Opportunity Knocks, “they were given permission last summer to build out a garden area. German Fest requires the use of the entire Grove area, which was not possible with the garden being built.”
Phil Carmody, president of Opportunity Knocks, said the nonprofit hasn’t been involved in discussions about the location of German Fest.
“We’ve approached our intentions with this land-use partnership with the hope and intention to share the space and bring improvements to the space that can make it better for all who use it,” Carmody told the Review. “We don’t want to push anyone or anything out. On the contrary, what we believe we can bring to that space is more beauty, accessibility and function.”
When village staff told Harlem Männer und Damenchor about the new use of Grove property, Herdeg said it was too late to find another location for German Fest. Herdeg said he usually rents a tent and supplies in November and books bands out at least six months in advance.
Though the group has talked to the Park District of Forest Park about hosting German Fest on its grounds next year — as well as officials in River Forest and Lombard — Herdeg put odds at a 50-50% chance on whether the event returns in 2027.
“We’ll try to have one, but the odds are a little bit against us because of facilities,” Herdeg said. “It might not be the German Fest of Forest Park anymore.”
History of German Fest
The Harlem Männer und Damenchor started hosting celebrations of German culture in the 1970s, when the group would host a one-day event in October with German food and beer. The Oktoberfest event first took place on Madison Street, then at St. Bernardine Catholic Church, and later by the Armed Forces Reserve Center on Roosevelt Road — where the Harlem Männer und Damenchor set up a dozen carnival rides for attendees.
Herdeg remembers Forest Park’s last Oktoberfest celebration in the mid-1990s.
“And then over the years, I always heard people say, ‘Why don’t you have Oktoberfest anymore?’” Herdeg said. So around 2005, Harlem Männer und Damenchor brought back Oktoberfest at St. Bernardine for two years, before the church got a new priest who no longer wanted to host the event.
A decade later, locals were still asking Herdeg about Oktoberfest. So, he approached DANK, the German American National Congress, which, along with the Harlem Männer und Damenchor, each put about $4,000 toward hosting German Fest in 2015. Herdeg said then-Mayor Tony Calderone suggested the name German Fest, which was celebrated in June that year at the Grove.
While there was no German Fest in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, the event has drawn thousands of people every year to the Grove. Herdeg estimates, on average, German Fest attracts 1,200 people a day, over the course of three days.
“The nice part was that families could have the kids in the bouncy house and everything else we offered and the parents could relax and have a beer or a glass of wine,” Herdeg said. “I don’t think Forest Park has anything anymore like that.”