Indulging in a variety of foods, visiting with friends and taking in the festival’s entertainment and crafts are some of the traditions during the annual Seymour Oktoberfest.
For the 2018 festival, event organizers are offering what may become a tradition for festivalgoers — a logo contest.
If successful, the committee may make it an annual the contest. A committee will select the winner, and he or she will receive a $250 gift card and recognition on the festival’s website and Facebook page. They also will be honored at some point during the 2018 festival.
The logo will be used as the official logo and be featured on the festival’s website, promotional materials and merchandise.
“Anywhere you see our logo now, it will appear there,” said Ben Stahl, president of the festival’s board of directors.
Stahl said the board had plans to update its logo and was going to hire a graphic designer before he was contacted by an organizer of a similar festival in Washington state.
In the course of bouncing ideas from one another, the organizer told him about how that festival has a logo contest each year to get the community involved and that it had gain a certain degree of popularity.
“I thought it was a cool idea because it engages people to get involved,” he said. “For the first year, I’m really excited about it and a little nervous about it, but I think it could be a great tradition that we can build off of because the logo is a major focal point, and if you have a new logo each year, there’s so much you can do with that. It gives us a fresh look each year.”
The contest also will give people ownership in the festival, Stahl said.
“Anytime we do something, we always ask ourselves for creative ways to build excitement every year and get people engaged,” he said. “The logo contest is something we feel will be a neat thing to do.”
Stahl said the contest also will be fun for the committee as it reviews all of the entries and makes the selection. The work will be something new and different to change the pace in the course of planning the festival.
“We’re all volunteers, so any time we can do something like this and get this kind of enjoyment out of it, it’s great because I try to throw in things like this on our board to make things fun,” he said. “The logo contest will probably be one of those things where we will really enjoy.”
Stahl said he and other committee members are unsure when the old logo began to be used, but they say it’s possible it has been used since the first festival in 1973. That logo features two Bavarian men nicknamed Hans and Franz, Stahl said.
Those who are concerned they will never see the duo again should feel at ease, as Stahl said they will be used in some capacity during the festival.
“They’re not going to disappear because we view them as part of the tradition,” he said. “We’re going to have them in other areas, and they’re still going to be on our website and on our signs.”
Stahl said the committee already has received about a dozen entries. Deadline is midnight Feb. 4. The winner will be selected and informed in early March.
The contest is open to those 16 and older anywhere in the United States and must feature German and Bavarian themes. Entries should be submitted in a digital format. The words “Seymour Oktoberfest” and the year also must be featured on the logo. A full list of the contest rules can be found at seymouroktoberfest.com/logo.
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To enter the Seymour Oktoberfest logo contest, visit seymouroktoberfest.com/logo.
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