August is time for Oktoberfest in Buffalo Grove

One of the big area events on tap for this weekend is Oktoberfest in Buffalo Grove - and, yes, we do mean this weekend.

Here's all you need to know about the festival hosted by the Schwaben Verein club of Chicago:

• Oktoberfest in August? The event was always conceived as a summer festival and was known for a time as the Schwaben Fest, for the region in southwest Germany, called Swabia in English, from which the group's name and many of its members hail. But some of the group's younger members thought it would be better understood by the community at large if the event was simply called an Oktoberfest, said group secretary Helga Zettl.

• A rich history: The Schwaben Verein of Chicago was founded in the 1870s, making it one of the oldest of the Chicago area's 50 or so German clubs, and its summer festival is in its 132nd year. In 1984, the group moved into its Club House in the Schwaben Center on Weiland Road in Buffalo Grove. The space is shared by the Schwaben Athletic Club and Grove Banquets.

• What's in store: The two-day festival includes continuous music, including a performance by a 14-piece band from Germany, the Fidelen Kirchheimer; singers and dancers; games and amusements for children, including a moonwalk; soccer; raffles; and, of course, food and beer.

• An Italian twist: In addition to the traditional German entertainment, this year's festival will include an appearance from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday by an Italian community band Corpo Musicale Olgiatese. The band has already scheduled a free concert, hosted by the Mount Prospect Community Band, at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Lions Park in Mount Prospect, and agreed to perform an additional show for the German festival audience while in the area.