St. John's Oktoberfest set in Milford Sept. 22-23

St. John's 27th Annual Oktoberfest will begin at 6 p.m., Friday, Sept. 22, and continue at 11:30 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 23, at St. John the Apostle Catholic Church on the corner of Seabury Avenue and School Place in Milford.

In Oktoberfest tradition, the Funsters will play Friday night. New this year is a 5K Run/Walk beginning at 6 p.m. with a Healthy Kids Run for ages 10 and under starting at 5:55 p.m. Registration begins at 5 p.m. Both races begin on School Place in front of the church. Registration is $25. For adult participants, free beer will be available at the end of the race, donated by Mispillion River Brewing and NKS Distributors. To register, go to www.TriSportsEvents.com.

After the run and dancing to the wonderful sounds of the Funsters, the Oktoberfest international food court will be serving up traditional German entrees, along with Italian, Hispanic and Polish foods, hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, Polish ice and homemade baked desserts. Giamello's Coffee House will serve Italian and Irish coffees.

On Saturday, the festivities will begin at 11:30 a.m. with arts and crafts booths, helicopter rides, a dessert booth with over 100 items, and entertainment lasting the entire day. Children's games include inflatables such as an obstacle course, bounce castle and Mickey's Clubhouse. A petting zoo and games will be on site Saturday. The planning committee also added adult yard games to the entertainment lineup this year. Cornhole, jumbo jenga, ladder ball and bocce ball will be available to those 16 and older. All kids’ and adult games are free of charge.

Saturday's entertainment lineup includes German Enzian Dancers, the McAleer School of Irish Dancing, Die Immergrun Musikanten - The Immergrun Trio - from 12 to 4 p.m. and the Glass Onion Band from 6 to 10 p.m.

There is no entrance fee, and a $1,000 cash prize raffle will be held Saturday. For more information, call 302-422-5123. For more information about the 5K, email Lance Skinner at lnbskinner@comcast.net.

St. John the Apostle/St. Bernadette is a multiethnic parish that has been providing for the spiritual needs of Catholics since 1910. Today, the parish ministers to over 1,400 families and provides outreach to those in need in the greater Milford/Harrington area.