Story and photos by Lily Mather
If you’ve lived in Lee’s Summit for more than six months you’ve definitely heard about Oktoberfest. The original Oktoberfest began in 1810 in Munich, Germany in the celebration of the King’s marriage.
This year Oktoberfest was from September 25-27. Oktoberfest has been in Lee’s Summit for decades. Many things go on behind the scene when it comes to the yearly fest.
Anna Sajovic was one of the vendors that lined the street last weekend. Her company Albumworks, a division of Anna’s inspiration “refurbishes vinyl and album covers into gifts.” Sajovic started three years ago when she used a vinyl record to “see if it would look like a clock” instead of looking like a clock with a hole in it. Her product includes 15 different types of bookmarks, journals, sketch books and more. They made with music covers from 60s-80s, including Heart, Lionel Richie, John Denver and Carly Simon.
Sajovic has attended Lee’s Summit’s Oktoberfest since 2014 and goes to other festivals as well such as Old Settlers in Johnson County. She also goes to the Kansas City, City Market and has her studio at home. Sajovic 
has a Facebook, Twitter and Etsy for Albums work.
Kids from West also participated in Oktoberfest this year. Junior Samantha Carter took part in the performance of Pippin. The theater department performed three musical acts on Saturday, September 26 around 6:30 on the stage between Owens and Bank of Lee’s Summit. “It filled the whole space,” said Carter. She believes there were a hundred or more people that came and watched.
Carter herself performed “Magic to Do” with the rest of the cast of the play. “We danced as well with the song” Carter said. “Corner of the Sky” was performed by senior Easton Morrill, who plays the main character Pippin. Senior Elise Marshall performed “No Time at All” as the character Berthe.
“It was awesome to getting preform for people,” Carter said. The Theater department hoped to spread the word about Pippin that starts on November 7th and goes to the 15th. “Were trying to get everyone to get excited to come and see it and I think we did a pretty good job.”
Junior Haley Lykins went with a group of friends like most students at west do. She wasn’t able to go on Friday night because of the football game but she had plenty of
fun on Saturday. “There was more older people than Friday but there was less middle school kids so that was a plus,” said Lykins.
Lykins spent a majority of her time on the fair rides. “I liked riding all the rides and seeing everyone dressed up. It felt like a real carnaval,” Lykins said. Her favorite ride was the Cliffhanger, where people are lying on their stomachs in what looks like a hang glider. The ride then lifts them in the air and moves up in down. “[You] Get to feel like you’re flying,” Lykins explained.
Oktoberfest in Lee’s Summit proves itself as a tradition between the community.
