This past Sunday, October 1, the Marlboro chapter of UNICO hosted an Oktoberfest at the Benmarl Winery with the support of proprietor Victor Spaccarelli. The Fest took place on a perfectly sunny fall day after days of wet and rainy weather.

UNICO President Rich Cavazza said they used to have a clambake but the owner retired and passed away, and the chapter wanted to do something different and Mike Carofano came up with the idea for an Oktoberfest.

“The older guys in the club said we’re an Italian club so its gotta be an Italian Oktoberfest,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of German stuff, but we’ve got the linguine with clam sauce so we’ve got the Italian twist in it.”

Cavazza said UNICO puts on many events, “but this draws a different crowd; people you don’t see at the tomato contest. I think because it’s an Oktoberfest with the food and the beer, it is a different atmosphere. So it’s cool for us to reach out to other people in the community.”

Any money collected from the Fest goes into UNICO’s general fund for their many charitable activities.

Near the end of the Fest there was a contest to see who could hold a full stein of beer straight out from their body the longest; Allison Scaturro won in the women’s category at 2:57 and Sergio Ramirez won in the men’s category at 3:32.

With your ticket, all beer and cider was included from the beer truck. This included an Oktoberfest beer, a light beer and cider from Locust Grove Brewing Company in Milton. Benmarl Winery also had a table to purchase wine by the glass.

Raffle tickets could be purchased to win a basket stuffed with a variety of prizes from supporting local businesses.