Cindy and Jeff Karver Create Legacy in Introducing Oktoberfest in Boyertown

Ed. This article was created from a "B Inspired" podcast, recorded in September 2023, that can be found on  your favorite podcast platform. As the community prepares for its 17th Oktoberfest, it's fun to look back on its beginnings. Enjoy the Karvers' reflections!

by Jane Stahl

“What do you think I said?” exclaims Cindy Karver when asked how she responded the day husband Jeff asked her if she was willing to take on the project of organizing the community’s fall festival. The late Charles Haddad had suggested they take on the job to improve on Boyertown’s community events.

Jeff recalls where the idea and the motivation started to do this “crazy thing?” “It started in spring of 2008. Building a Better Boyertown had been running events on third Saturdays. Early in 2008, we attended a wine tasting event with friends involving local restaurants, and it wasn’t very good. We weren’t impressed,” Jeff recalls.

“And it was probably unwise, but I emailed Charles and the Main Street Manager at the time, describing other events from other areas that were successful. Charles invited me to lunch to talk about things and said ‘Why don’t you put something together?’

“And so, I went home and ran the idea by Cindy. The initial concept was not about Oktoberfest; it was to be a festival in the fall. I remember sitting at my desk trying to come up with a theme. I considered ‘Summer Swan Song’ and ‘Fall Folic’ when Heather [BaBB’s Main Street Manager] suggested ‘Oktoberfest’ and explained—after I reminded her that our event was to be held in September, not October—that, in Munich, Oktoberfest is held over several weeks in September. And so, ‘Oktoberfest’ is what we ran with!”he explains.

Cindy remembers that Jeff planned to work behind the scene, concentrate on the “nuts and bolts.” He started by soliciting funding from community leaders and friends who “stepped up” in major ways to support the project. “The office of Boyd and Karver, of course, but also Susquehanna Bank, Gerhart and Ritner, Larry Hoffa, Dennis Maloy of Fred Beans, Jack Lignelli of the Pottstown Maxillofacial Group, and Charles each ‘ponied up’ $1,000.

“The surprising part was that we admitted when we asked for funding that we didn’t know exactly how the community would respond. Would there be 50 people or 2000? The community took a gamble that first year—in the midst of a financial panic—and was really supportive,” Jeff shares.

“Whenever we ran into problems, people helped us: Jack Mueller cleared tenants off his lot so we had space for the porta potties. Nobody said ‘no.’ No one knew how it would turn out.

"When we needed electricity, business folks offered their outlets—some left their doors unlocked so we had access; Jane Mellott of Bause’s Super Drug Store even had her electrician add an outside outlet especially for us while construction was going on for her drive-by window."

“Getting food vendors was hard,” Cindy notes. “We didn’t charge them to participate, and we only were able to secure a few. We couldn’t tell them how much food to prepare; and, sadly, they were out of food by 2:30 in the afternoon. That was kind of hilarious…not at the time, of course.”

Jeff adds, “We were grateful for Pete at Pottstown Tent Rentals. Not only did he bring tents, but also tables and chairs. We had a call out for entertainers. The Boyertown Alumni Band played which everybody loves. Miracles in Motion came to perform; a German band brought everything together, and several DJ’s played German music to create a nice atmosphere.

“Despite lots of phone calls and emails and Cindy’s concerns during the planning, in the end things came together. We had good karma; our friends came through with what we needed, and the weather was perfect.

Cindy agrees, adding: “At the end of the night, we were limping. These old bones wore out from the long day—setting up through taking things down. And while Jeff suggested including Friday night to the festival, I knew I couldn’t do it; my body would rebel. 

“When Shannon [Shaw] and her husband took over, they developed a schedule of volunteers. Everybody came out to help. They had T-shirts made and gave businesses a ‘chance’ to be behind the bar to help raise the visibility of their business. That job is highly popular and there are lots of businesses that now offer donations to Oktoberfest in order to have a chance to be ‘servers’ behind the bar.”

“We were pleased that the event was not a beer drinking mess. There was only one incident of a gentleman who had been overserved. When we were called to respond to him, we merely repaid him his $5 and sent him home,” Jeff notes.

“We always had a police presence although it was a friendly crowd just socializing. We placed plenty of trash cans, so there were not many complaints about empty beer glasses left all over town. We had people stationed around the perimeter to try to enforce staying inside with the alcohol,” Cindy adds.

Cindy and Jeff went on to coordinate Oktoberfest over for the next four years with the valued help of the couple who would take over adding the suggestion that every five years it would be good for new leaders to take over. “You’ll get new ideas, fresh energy, a different network of sponsors and advertisers,” Cindy explains. “So many things changed during our involvement.”

One thing the couple hoped would not change is the mission to keep it local. They were intentional in not advertising to the Philadelphia market, for example. “We wanted our local area to benefit,” Cindy offers. “Jeff adds, “Although we were pleased at the $10,000 we made that first year, we may have made more money had we advertised toward Skippack and Philadelphia.

Jeff recalls some touching memories during the first year. The late Lee Mecherly told him that it was the greatest event ever in Boyertown. Jeff loved the image of Frank and the late Marianne Deery in their German outfits tapping the keg. But perhaps his favorite is overhearing two women in their 80’s greeting one another, exclaiming “I haven’t seen you in years.”

“It was so great that the event was not just young people coming to the event to drink beer. The event allowed the entire community—young and not so young—to be together having fun,” he concludes.

Times change. People come and go. But chances are that Boyertown’s Oktoberfest weekend--having wrapped up its 16th year--is here to stay—thanks to Jeff Karver’s decision to suggest that change was needed and his and Cindy's willingness to make it happen. 

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