The Gooley way: Mount Angel First Citizen hailed for Festhalle focus

By Brenna Wiegand

He’s amiable, driven – and a little dangerous. Not long into a conversation, he has you thinking about signing up as a volunteer for Mount Angel’s Oktoberfest.

That’s John Gooley, Mount Angel’s 2012 First Citizen.  Gooley and fellow community award recipients will be honored at Feb. 25 at the Mount Angel Festhalle. Gooley’s decades of tireless volunteerism are topped by what his nominators say is his crowning achievement, Mount Angel’s spacious Festhalle, Oktoberfest’s Biergarten.

When not in use for Oktoberfest, the Festhalle is a community friendly facility capable of accommodating groups of 600 – many from out of town.

Gooley’s vision, expertise and tenacity, combined with the support of the Mount Angel Community Foundation, the Oktoberfest board, and the city, made the Festhalle a reality.

Years ago, Jerry “Mr. Oktoberfest” Lauzon gave Gooley a photo of a German biergarten facade. It stayed with him and four years ago Gooley, then-Oktoberfest board president, dusted it off and paid a visit to Victor Madge and Mike Wellman.

“They replicated it,” Gooley said of the Silverton architects. Dale Wurdinger demolished the old biergarten (for free) and volunteers, grants and donations kept rolling in for the new facility. For example, of the building’s $20,000 landscaping budget, they were able to apply $15,000 elsewhere: Kraemer’s Nursery, Willamette Turf and Woodburn Nursery provided free labor, plants and lawn.

Three years ago, Gooley, vice president of sales at Withers Lumber Co., called on the connections of 37 years and raised $54,000 for TV’s Extreme Makeover project at Oregon School for the Deaf in Salem. There he met builder Rich Duncan, who ended up overseeing Festhalle construction. Many others from the Salem event followed, contributing an estimated $250,000 in discounted materials and thousands of dollars in carpentry time.

“At first I was very concerned about the project and worried we might overspend, but the absolute proof is in the pudding and one thing I’m sure of without any question whatsoever is that no one else could have done it except John,” Lauzon said. “He has a tenacious spirit that says ‘I don’t accept no.’”

“We call him the Energizer Bunny,” said Chris Bischoff, current Oktoberfest board president. “He kept pressing forward and was the reason we were able to get this built.”

Mount Angel natives John and Diane  Gooley have four children and two grandchildren. The grandkids like to accompany John on his rounds during the two weeks of vacation he gives each year to Oktoberfest. He says he loves “setting up for a big party.” In fact, he loves everything about Oktoberfest, owing its rise to world-class status to Lauzon, whose enthusiasm brought volunteerism to an all-time high.

“It wasn’t feasible to remodel the old building, you’ve got to remember that 45 years ago Jim and Bill Unger thought about that building; that was their dream back then, and it turned out great,” Gooley said. But as time went on, the $700-750 rental fee fetched by the old biergarten was often blasted by a $500 heating bill. Today’s building is so efficient that Energy Trust of Oregon sent them a check for $10,000.

As thousands of festival-goers christened the Festhalle at Oktoberfest 2011, Gooley was glad the board had trusted him – and even gladder that “I got my way.”