More than 1,000 turn out for #ShopCove Oktoberfest
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
Downtown Copperas Cove was filled on Saturday night with a crowd in a festive mood for the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation’s #shopcove! Oktoberfest Pop Up Market.
Cohosting the event was the Taste of Cove Food Truck Park.
The Pivo & Polka Band provided live musical entertainment, with dozens of local small businesses participating in the market, called “Dusseldorf Vendor Village.”
Each of the areas had signs with passport “stops” where shoppers could get stamps and have their passport entered into a prize drawing for a chance a $100 H-E-B gift card, a $100 Mojo Coffee product basket, or K&D Fitness workout classes.
A costume contest took place in front of the House on Main, with categories including best costume, best couple, best child’s costume, and a category for German expats who call the U.S. for a chance to win your own trophy and a massage, haircut, boutique, or coffee gift certificate.
Silvia Rhoads is German-born and raised, and like many in the area got to Texas “as soon as she could” and calls Copperas Cove home.
Her business, Southern Rhoads Creations, was one of the vendor spots for the market.
While nothing quite compares to Oktoberfest in Germany, there were strong tones that hailed to the German festival.
“It is great to see this happening downtown, because we’ve needed something downtown. I think downtown is the place—it brings the community together. You see the turnout? It’s just amazing. It helps the businesses. People come down and they may say, I didn’t know that they were here, or this place was here,” Rhoads said. “The band is excellent, and so many people in costume with the German dirndl and lederhosen. It’s great.”
Rhoads also said she was happy to hear that the Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce is bringing Krist Kindl Markt back to downtown Copperas Cove this year.
Anne Seneca, Special Projects Coordinator for the Copperas Cove EDC, had the lead on the Oktoberfest project.
“ShopCove Oktoberfest was a collaborative effort between the EDC and several downtown based businesses. We worked with The Taste of Cove Food Truck Park, The House on Main, Nelson Brew Works and Herb & Earnie’s,” Seneca said. "Each of these businesses was a stop on the Passport Contest and hosted our Social Media Contest, Costume Contest, Stein Holding Contest, and Brat Eating Contest.
“Downtown Copperas Cove and its hardworking businesses are a huge part of what makes Cove so wonderful. The EDC was thrilled to be able to showcase these businesses as well as support our home based vendors at the market. We couldn’t have had such a successful event without the support of our generous community sponsors.”
Sheena Tanner is the EDC Marketing Director and talked about the growth of the #ShopCove #HireCove initiative that the EDC began less than two years ago.
“We are so excited with how much we’ve been able to grow the ShopCove program over the past year and a half. About 1,200 people came out for Oktoberfest and that really shows that this program has evolved into something that not only is helping local home based businesses but is now adding quality of life through fun community events,” Tanner said.
“Anne has done such a phenomenal job with project management and logistics for the ShopCove Popup Markets. It was really rewarding to see so many people walking around, dressed up, enjoying food & drink, listening to the music, and participating in the contests. We had such a fantastic turnout.”
The EDC will be holding Oktoberfest again in 2025, as its third quarter popup market event.
Their next popup market will be for Small Business Saturday, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
The next #HireCove event will take place sometime in 2025, with that date to be determined.