Malta Chamber Holds 6th Annual Oktoberfest

With autumn trying to make an exit, with winter lurking in the night shadows, the Malta Chamber of Commerce held the 6th Annual Oktoberfest on October 24th at the Stockman Terrace.

Kaylee Williamson, Executive Director of the Malta Chamber of Commerce shared, "Winners of the soup contest were Jessica Robinson in first, the MHS FCS Class in second place; the Bank of Malta was the third place entry."

There were only five entries in the soup this year, compared to nine or ten last year." Williamson added that the Bank of Malta entry was chili and about eight staff members brought some and it was made into one batch, so chances of getting a "recipe" for it are slim to nil.

The scarecrow contest was won by Miss Crowder's class and the wreath contest winner was Anne Boothe and second place was Kayla Warren. The grade school class won a pizza party.

Finding a date that works for people to attend events is a task anymore, regardless of having a clear calendar when the date is set, there are always going to be choices that people have to make when the evening gets overloaded.

"We set the date back in July and there was nothing on the calendars; and when it arrived there was senior night going on for volleyball and youth basketball and other events. We didn't get any vendors. There were some people out that evening that we haven't seen before, so that was nice."

While the attendance was down, there were a lot of vehicles on the street.

Oktoberfest is the official kick off of the Chamber kick-off for the Christmas Scrip and all three banks in Malta were open and offering the scrip fund designated to keep the dollars among local merchants. Annually, the scrip money has had about $200,000 to $300,000 generated back into the local economy.

"After Covid, I feel like a lot of people are hesitant to come out," Williamson said, and expressed her appreciation to those that came and participated in the events of the night.