Decibel Team Talks Elections And PBS at Pflugerville’s Community Pfair

At Pfennig Park, Raul Capetillo sits back to enjoy the Community Pfair on the last day of Deutschen Pfest in Pflugerville. With beer in hand and surrounded by friends and family, he shares what this community event means to him.

“I think this is a great, great event for the city of Pflugerville,” Capetillo says. “I’ve really enjoyed it ever since I’ve been in Pflugerville [and] I’ve been in Pflugerville 20 years.”

The Decibel team attended the Community Pfair on October 16 in Pfennig Park. As part of both our community reporting project in the area and our election initiative with America Amplified, we continued our community engagement efforts in Pflugerville. Our team took this opportunity to discuss elections and our enduring love for PBS Kids shows with attendees. But many residents discussed something else at the heart of public media: being a good neighbor.

“We have a fun run, kids 1k, community fair with lots [of] booths, food, kids stuff,” Capetillo says. “It brings the community together.”

At the Pflugerville Community Pfair, attendees started the morning off with the Pfun Run. “This is a great event for the city of Pflugerville.” says organizer Raul Capetillo. “It brings the community together. The city of Pflugerville backs this, [the] city council backs this…it's a really neat thing.” Photo by Jonathan Puente

The Community Pfair is part of the three-day festival known as Deutschen Pfest. During the fair, families came together to enjoy music, local vendors, food, and events including a fun run and costume contest. The fair creates a space for families to share time together, make memories and support local businesses and nonprofits, including Decibel and Austin PBS.

As part of our team's outreach efforts, we handed out cards provided by America Amplified with a link to submit questions about the midterm election. People can submit questions and get personalized answers, even on Election Day. We also let attendees know about our reporting project in Pflugerville and how they can submit story ideas. And to include our younger audience members, we asked kids about their favorite PBS Kids shows and shared cards with information on educational online games and activities.

The Decibel team was excited to see this family dressed as Sesame Street characters at the Pflugerville Community Pfair. The Decibel team attended the fair to talk with adults about upcoming city elections and also give support to our younger audience members. Photo by Jonathan Puente

But we also wanted to hear about people’s experience at the Pfair. Pflugerville resident Kelley Jones King says it’s a great time to connect with neighbors.

“It’s just a really great opportunity to come out and be with all the people in town,” King says. “You always see a whole bunch of people that you don’t see any other time of the year.”

King, who has attended the festival for over 20 years, enjoys the chance to not only connect with local businesses, but also the area’s history.

“You see a lot of people in lederhosen and stuff…cause this was a small German farming community,” King says. “Especially as these small communities like Pflugerville grow, it’s really great to try and hold onto our roots…. just retain a little bit of our history and know where we came from before we become this big, huge metropolis.”

Capetillo, who has been on the Deutschen Pfest planning committee for the past two years says he’s happy to see the event turnout grow. While on this committee, the organizers decided to move the event from May to October and that decision has paid off.

“We’ve actually really grown the past couple of years. ” Says Capetillo. “I think everyone enjoyed that.”

Costumes and smiles could be seen throughout the crowd as attendees prepared for the morning’s Pfun Run.“It’s a really great opportunity to come out and be with all the people in town,” King says. “You always see a whole bunch of people that you don’t see any other time of the year.” Photo by Jonathan Puente

As Pflugerville continues to grow, this city aims to stay focused on ways to create events to support its identity as a family-friendly community. Organizers like Capetillo hope residents will continue to come together to create new memories while recognizing the area’s roots.

“The City of Pflugerville backs this, [the] city council backs this…It’s just a great event for the city to come together and have fun,” Capetillo says.

If you have any questions about participating in the 2022 midterms or want to stay up to date on all of the Austin PBS election coverage, visit austinpbs.org/elections.