More than 1,000 people turned out to help transform a small part of Sedona into a bit of Germany — even if for just a few hours.

Rotary Club of Sedona Red Rocks’ second annual Oktoberfest on Saturday, Oct. 25, drew brewers and guests from around the state to Los Abrigados for an event filled with authentic food, beer, games, music and attire.

“We were pretty happy with how things went,” said Rick Wesselhoff, Rotarian and the event’s biermeister. “We were up in attendance by about 25 percent over last year and even though we’re still crunching the numbers, I know we’ll have made more money than last year.”

Their inaugural event last year drew about 800 people and raised nearly $14,000 for local scholarships and scholarships.

“We probably could have handled another 150 people this year but the amount we had was just right,” he said. “Everyone seemed to have a really good time. The only real complaints we had was the traffic, which we can’t control. We were told that at one point it was backed up to Airport Road and that some people got frustrated, turned around and didn’t come to the event.”

He said they learned a lot from the 2013 event, especially when it came to the cooking and serving of authentic German-style food. Last year Rotary did all the prep work and selling and did so using just one booth. This year they had it catered and offered three booths, greatly cutting down on the wait time in line.

To read the full story, see the Wednesday, Oct. 29, edition of the Sedona Red Rock News.