The Marion Oktoberfest committee co-chairman views the new location of the festival as a way to attract more crowds to the third-annual event.

Having it at the Illinois Centre Mall, we’re hoping to have 25,000 people over the three days, John Stoecklin said. The festival is still in its infancy. Annually it’s been getting bigger.

The Marion Oktoberfest starts today and runs through Sunday, and Stoecklin said the events, rides, food and accessible location should attract a large crowd by Southern Illinois standards.

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There will not be 5 million liters of beer consumed, as was the case at the Munich Oktoberfest, which ended Sunday, because the Marion Oktoberfest is an alcohol-free festival.

The majority of the scheduled events will be at Marion’s Illinois Centre Mall, 3000 W. DeYoung St., or on the surrounding mall grounds.

Events such as the Oktoberfest Grand Parade at 10 a.m. Saturday and the marching band competition at 3 p.m. Saturday will be in downtown Marion and on the Marion High School football field respectively.

The event kicks off at 10 this morning with the arts and crafts fair. The food stands and rides will open at 4 p.m., and the Oktoberfest opening ceremonies are at 5:30 p.m.

Some of the Marion Oktoberfest’s Bavarian entertainment on the mall grounds over the weekend consist of the Andy Hockrein Bavarian Band, Polka contests, German cultural dancers and the Deutschmeister Brass Band.

This is the first year the Oktoberfest has been at the Illinois Centre Mall. Marion Oktoberfest committee co-chairwoman Tracey Reel said the location for this year’s festival had to be big enough to fit the large amount of events taking place over the weekend.

We wanted to have (the Oktoberfest) so it was in one central location, she said. The mall is the only place in Marion that can accommodate the size of the Oktoberfest.

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Part of the reason organizers needed a bigger location is the addition of the massive Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament that began in 1996.

The tournament this year has drawn more than 800 entrants from 72 cities spanning 14 states. Gus Macker begins at 8 a.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday.

Stoecklin said organizers knew during last year’s festival it would have to be moved.

We knew that we’d outgrow the (Marion Plaza Shopping Center) with the addition of Gus Macker, he said. We knew right away that we’d have to look elsewhere.

Reel said the tournament is quite a festival attraction for SIUC students and other visitors whether they happen to be basketball fans or not.

Gus Macker is a big draw for SIUC students, she said. I’m not a basketball fan, and I enjoy it. People I’ve talked to also get really interested in the tournament.

Stoecklin said it was the Gus Macker tournament that made it even more possible to attract people from other states.

We were looking for an event that would draw people from great distances and would add to the crowds, he said. Other festivals seem to draw people mostly from nearby towns.

The Marion Oktoberfest tournament is the last outdoor stop for the Gus Macker tour. Players in the tournament favor outdoor tournaments to stuffy, indoor winter tournaments in small capacity buildings.

Southern Illinois has great weather in October. The temperature is usually around 70 or 75 degrees, Stoecklin said. There are no players passing out from heat exhaustion.

Along with the tournament, there will be a Oktoberfest fireworks show at 9 p.m. Saturday, with a laser show choreographed to music during the fireworks.

As far as I know, it’s the first laser show in the area, Stoecklin said. This is a high-power show similar to something Disney might do.

The Oktoberfest theme was not chosen by the committee because of an abundance of German or middle European heritage in the area, but rather the time the festival takes place.

Marion is not any one major ethnical background, Stoecklin said. It’s really diverse. We felt if we were going to go with an ethnical theme, then we’d go with the German theme. And the festival is always in October.

Basketball and lasers may not be as much a German tradition as bratwurst and beer, but the German-influenced events, food and music should make visitors to the Marion Oktoberfest this weekend experience their fair share of Bavarian culture.

We’re trying every year to expand on the German theme, Stoecklin said. I’m hoping in five to 10 years the festival will be a very established Bavarian festival.

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