Festival aids nonprofits

Debra Wilson has no problem telling everyone who passes by about Seymour Harvest Church's offering at this year's Seymour Oktoberfest.

"Come try pommes frites (pom-freet)," she yelled enthusiastically Wednesday afternoon, hanging out the window of the church's food booth along Chestnut Street on the south side of the railroad tracks.

"They're coated with a kosher coarse ground salt and are crispy on the outside and warm and flaky on the inside," she said. "And we have five delicious dipping sauces to choose from."

With that description, she was successful in tempting a few early festival goers and workers to try them out.

What exactly is pommes frites, you ask? Think french fries, German style. They are thick-cut potato strips that are twice-fried and served in a funnel for $4.
"We just fry the fat right out of them," Wilson said jokingly.

The Oktoberfest officially begins its 36th run in downtown Seymour today, with all booths opening at 11 a.m. Opening ceremonies are scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. on the north stage at Third and Chestnut streets.

For many nonprofit groups, civic clubs and churches, Oktoberfest is an opportunity to help finance their programs, from Scouts to church trips, from Christmas Miracle to scholarships.

This is the first year for Seymour Harvest Church to have a booth at the Oktoberfest, and the congregation went all-out to make it unique and relevant to the festival's German tradition.

Now the booth is appealing to the eyes as well as to the nose and taste buds.

"It started out as a gutted-out old trailer," Wilson said of the booth before its renovation. "We put a lot of work into it and turned it into a Bavarian-style chalet. It was a whole church effort."

The idea for pommes frites came as a divine inspiration to church member Poynor Giles, who lived in Germany for six and a half years. One of his favorite German snacks? Pommes frites.

"I was sitting in church one day, listening to the pastor's sermon when it hit me. We should sell pomme frite," he said. "I hadn't thought about pommes frites in years."

Giles did the research on what they would need and how they would make them.

"It's been a labor of love," he said.

The group hopes to sell 3,000 orders of pommes frites over the next few days, to raise money for a special trip the church's praise team plans to take next summer.

"Our praise team, which is made up of about 14 people, has been invited to perform in Kenya for more than 10,000 people at an outdoor crusade event and attend a conference there," Wilson, praise worship leader, said. "It's a real honor for us, so all proceeds from the booth will go to our fundraising efforts for the trip."

Even if the church is successful in selling out of pommes frites, it will still need to raise a lot more money.

"It's going to cost us about $30,000 to get us to Africa," she said. "So we're looking for people who would like to help out."

Throughout the day and evening Wednesday, nonprofit as well as commercial groups worked to set up their food, activity and craft booths throughout the downtown.

Up the street from Seymour Harvest, around the corner and down Second Street, you will find the Knights of Columbus German-themed food booth.
"We have brats, sausages and German potato salad," K of C trustee Conrad Calmer said. "We keep it simple so people can get in and out quickly."

One item not on this year's menu is fried bologna sandwiches.

"We may have it again on the menu next year," he said.

Being one of the few booths open Wednesday afternoon, it had several people stopping by.

The organization uses proceeds  for various projects and to distribute to other nonprofit groups.

"A lot of the money goes to our organization and then we put it out to other organizations, such as the Daughters of Isabella and the St. Ambrose youth," he said.

K of C is also sponsoring the popular biergarten across the street.

"It's a good fundraiser for us," Calmer said of the festival.

A portion of the proceeds the group raises from the Oktoberfest will also go to its building fund.

"We're trying to build a new building," he said.

Although it's a lot of work to get ready for the festival, Calmer said he and the other Knights don't mind. Throughout the year they keep the booth updated and up to code.

"We enjoy donating our time, working and meeting the people," he said. "It's been a tradition since it started We are lucky to get a lot of involvement from the Catholic Men's Club and the Daughters of Isabella as well as the Knights of Columbus."

Calmer himself has been involved with the festival since it began.

"I was at the very first Oktoberfest and I've been here since," he said.

Last year the organization sold just more than 4,000 brats.

"But we need help. We need to sell more," he said.

As for what he is looking forward to for the next few days?

"Cool weather," he said laughing. "And the crowd, getting the people out and the atmosphere."