PROST!
Volunteer Joseph Sellers hands Jennifer Smith an oak-aged lager Saturday afternoon during Post Falls Rotary Club's inaugural Prost in the Park at Q'emiln Park in Post Falls.
DEVIN WEEKS/Press
Post Falls Rotary Club administrative assistant Anna Wilson pours an apple cobbler cider Saturday during Prost in the Park in Post Falls.
Sarah Polk, left, participates in the "Chicken Dance" alongside sisters Wendy Rittenour, 14, and Willow Rittenour, 11, at the Q'emiln Park pavilion Saturday during Prost in the Park.
Kim Masters, in a traditional dirndl dress, is about to win a cake in the cakewalk Saturday at Post Falls Rotary's inaugural Prost in the Park. The Oktoberfest-style event was a celebration of Post Falls' German heritage as well as a family-friendly community gathering.
POST FALLS — Chicken hats, chicken dances, feathered fedoras, cakewalks, accordion music and a colorful array of bubbly brews flowing from the taps.
Post Falls Rotary Club's inaugural Prost in the Park brought friends and families together for a festive Oktoberfest event at the Q'emiln Park pavilion Saturday. Some may have even described it as a "gute Zeit," as the Germans would say.
"We're a small club, we like doing big things," Post Falls Rotary President Chad Rittenour said. "This is the first year, we're just figuring out how to do it. We're going to grow it and it's going to be big, and with every dollar we make we can do bigger things in the community."
Kim Masters of Post Falls, garbed in an authentic plum and white dirndl dress she wore during Oktoberfest in Germany last year, was glad to be standing in the right place at the right time to win a pumpkin Bundt cake during the cakewalk.
"I was happy that I finally got one," she said with a smile. "It was fun."
Jennifer Smith of Post Falls enjoyed an oak-aged lager to accompany a dish of traditional German fare of bratwurst and potato salad.
She said when she saw Prost in the Park was a Rotary event she had to come check it out.
"It smells amazing," she said. "I like having events like this as things start to cool down and it's something to look forward to outside of that really busy summer rush. It's a nice temperature out so it's not boiling and they set things up really well in the pavilion."
Proceeds from the event will go back into the community, specifically for lit crosswalks Rotarians are installing near Post Falls schools to help keep school children safe while crossing the street.
"We're doing one every year until we get all the intersections done that the schools asked for," Rittenour said.
As well as supporting a good cause, Prost in the Park also paid homage to Post Falls' German heritage. The River City's founder, Frederick Post, was born in 1821 in Herborn, Germany. In 1871, he met Coeur d'Alene Tribal Chief Andrew Seltice at what is now known as Treaty Rock, purchasing 298 acres that would eventually become the heart of Post Falls. This shared history led Herborn and Post Falls to recognize each other as sister cities.
