OktoberWest Gears Up For Another Year in Charleston
OktoberWest Gears Up For Another Year in Charleston
Posted Thursday, October 13, 2011 ; 06:22 PM
Updated Thursday, October 13, 2011; 07:46 PM
West side businesses coordinate to make the festival a success.
CHARLESTON — The fourth annual OktoberWest Festival is just days away. There will be food, fun and music to celebrate the west side and its heritage. A lot of work goes into putting this event together according to organizers.
“A lot of businesses pull together to make it happen,” said Kathy Callahan, owner of Fountain Hobby shop. “A lot of interested west side people that live on the west side. We have about 80 volunteers, 80 to 90 volunteers that work on this. So it takes a lot to put on an event.”
While there won’t be a lot of immediate sales, organizers and volunteers said Oktoberwest will generate business down the line. “Most of your businesses are closed at this time of the evening,” said Callahan. “But it brings them down on the West Side and it gives them a positive feedback about the west side.”
Oktoberwest also gives local business owners a chance to visit with each other. “Most of your business owners here on the west side are family businesses,” said Callahan. “So they don’t get out of their business very often so this gives them an opportunity to buy a table and buy their family and interact with other business owners.”
OktoberWest is Saturday, Oct. 15 from 4-8 p.m., on Bigley Avenue in the lot behind Kelly’s Men’s Shop.
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