Oktoberfest supporters worry

Does downtown Walhalla’s part during Oktoberfest detract from the main celebration at Sertoma Field? It’s a question raised in a “Dear Friends” letter that has people talking a little more than one month before Wahalla celebrates its Germanic roots. The letter comes from a member of the former German-American Club who fears that the downtown sidewalk sales event takes attendees away from Sertoma. Lamar Bailes, who is aware of the letter, agrees that some of those who arrive from out of the area stop in the downtown and are unaware that the main part of the festival is elsewhere. But Vanessa Penton of the Greater Walhalla Area Chamber of Commerce takes a different view. Penton, the chamber executive director, says her organization’s support for craft beer tasting downtown and the closing of two blocks of Main Street for the weekend reflects the chamber’s intent to help ensure that other parts of the community reap the benefits of the city’s greatest tourism magnet. Penton says the chamber supports “CAT” buses that shuttle festival attendees from the downtown to Sertoma. Another part of the rift apparently is the craft beer tasting event that the chamber will stage on the green space downtown, even though the Sertoma Club runs a beer tent at the field. Bailes, a Sertoman, said, “I’d like to see the beer eliminated from Main Street. I don’t think that’s the place for it.” At a recent City Hall meeting Mayor Danny Edwards took note of the controversy and warned that a rift could jeopardize the festival which has been a success since its origins in the late 1970s.