If Ambler Savings Bank Facilities Manager Bob King and the Ambler Main Street team prepare well for the Ambler Oktoberfest on October 7–8 properly, no one will really know of the effort.

And that’s the way they want to keep it.

The event has been going on for more than 20 years, hosted by Ambler Main Street and supported by the Rotary Club of Ambler. Proceeds go to support all Main Street community activities, as well as the charitable works of the Rotary.

Planning the Oktoberfest is a year-round effort for which King helps lead the charge.

The To-Do List

The proper permits must be onsite for participants, enabling Butler Avenue to be safely closed for the crowds, vendors, and food trucks.

Through coordination with local law enforcement, fire department, and emergency medical services are brought onsite to keep everyone safe.

The performance stage is set for a day’s worth of steady musical performances.

The beer garden — a popular stop —is assembled, staffed, and secured, welcoming appropriate partakers and dissuading inappropriate ones.

The kids’ activities are placed; vendors find their assigned sites; signs and other means of information are placed to enable the crowds to navigate to what they want (food, entertainment, beverages, games, shopping) and may need (restrooms and emergency facilities).

Why does King put in all the hours and physical effort?

“Because a great main street deserves great events,” he said.

Deeply Connected

As a lifelong member of the Ambler community, King involves himself in Oktoberfest, Music Fest, and all Ambler Main Street events. They are an extension of his deep connection to the town, his role with the bank, his position as current president of the Ambler Main Street organization and his previous ownership of a community electrician business.

These responsibilities have a common root: They all contribute to the good of the community.

And therein lies Bob King’s justification for working for the success of this event so diligently.

“We have a bustling town center,” he said. “Businesses are thriving. And they help keep the town vibrant. So, we do what we do to help them to succeed.”

Growing the Event – And the Beer Garden

The event has evolved for the better over the years. King remembered helping one of its big draws, the beer garden, over a few procedural hurdles.

“We used to have Oktoberfest without the beer. Who does Oktoberfest without beer?

“So [at one point] we decided that we would get a tap trailer and the licenses for Oktoberfest, which we did through the Rotary.”

Ambler Savings Bank — preeminent sponsor of all of Ambler Main Street’s events (including Oktoberfest) — was instrumental in allowing Main Street to create its largest event, the annual Arts and Music Festival held every June. 

“That first festival, Ambler Savings Bank let us connect with its electricity for the stage power. I literally ran a giant cable out of the bank.

“It was safe,” he assured, “After all, I am an electrician.

“I wasn’t even employed by the bank then. But they saw the value in the event and were ready and willing to help.

“To quote former Bank President, Martin Brown, ‘We’ll do whatever you need to make this event a success,’” King remembered.

Collaborating in Ambler

That sense of collaboration is at the heart of Ambler, King inferred, especially during Oktoberfest.

“Everyone holds up their pieces that effort. Everyone does their share. So, for me, I feel like a bandleader getting everybody ready for a performance.

“It’s literally the best block party in Montgomery County and quite possible all of Southeastern Pa.,” King concluded.

The fruits of Bob King’s efforts should make the 2022 Ambler Oktoberfest a rousing success.

More information on it — and all of Ambler’s other events — is online.