Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest is an annual eight-day festival in the twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Based on the original German Oktoberfest, it is billed as Canada's Great Bavarian Festival. It is held every October, starting on the Friday before Canadian Thanksgiving and running until the Saturday after. It attracts over 700,000 visitors annually [1].

While its best-known draws are the beer-based celebrations, other cultural and entertainment attractions also fill the week. The most well-known is the parade held on Thanksgiving Day; as the only major parade on Canadian Thanksgiving, it is televised nationally.

The twin cities and surrounding area have a long history of German roots; Kitchener was formerly named Berlin. A large portion of the population identify themselves as being of German heritage, and many still speak German well. A common phrase at the celebrations is Gemütlichkeit, German for congeniality, or warm friendliness. This word is even programmed into the bus route displays, so during Oktoberfest it will show the route and Gemütlichkeit, or Willkommen.

The festival's mascot is Onkel Hans, a rotund man in Bavarian dress with a thick moustache, lederhosen, and a traditional felt hat with tassel. His graphical image shows him holding a beer stein in one hand, and a sausage (in a roll) in the other. A lesser-known icon is his counterpart Tante Frieda, a similarly stout woman wearing a dirndl.

Another icon of the festival is Miss Oktoberfest. This position was formerly selected in a televised beauty pageant, the applicant coming from across North America. The position is now selected by a closed committee of judges from a panel of local applicants; community involvement and personal character form the main criteria under the new system. A ribald spin-off of the Miss Oktoberfest pageant is celebrated in some local high schools, in which all participants are male, but dressed as women.

Clubs and Festhalls

Many celebrations in the festival take place in festhallen; these venues serve beer and traditional foods, and host traditional dancing and music, particularly polkas. The major festhalls are operated by the German clubs based in the cities:

• The Alpine Club of Kitchener
• The Concordia Club of Kitchener, the largest ethnic German club in Canada
• Hubertushaus, operated by the German-Canadian Hunting & Fishing Club of Mannheim
• The Schwaben Club of Kitchener [1]
• The Transylvania Club of Kitchener

Other festhalls and biergartens are operated out of existing bars, clubs, and other venues in the cities, which take on Germanic names (such as Karlsberghaus, Altes Muenchen Haus, and Ruedesheimer Garten) for the festival events.

Events

Single events that take place over the week include:

• Opening ceremonies - include an official keg-tapping to start the festival; at Kitchener City Hall (Friday)
• Pancake breakfast - free breakfast for all comers, in Uptown Waterloo (Saturday)
• Barrel Race - keg-rolling race in Uptown (Saturday)
• Rocktoberfest - major concert featuring rock acts, as well as more traditional music; Queensmount Arena (Altes Muenchen Haus), Kitchener (Sunday)
• Hip-Hoptoberfest - a spinoff of Rocktoberfest featuring Canadian hip-hop acts that takes place at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium (Karlsberghaus)
• University Nights - a night for local University students run by the local Sigma Chi fraternities. Buses run all night from University Avenue in Waterloo to the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, where the event takes place. Traditionally, Wilfrid Laurier University's night is on Thursday and University of Waterloo's is on the Friday of the second weekend, however both nights attract students from both schools, as well as other nearby colleges.
• Oktoberfest Parade - bands, traditional dancers, floats and revelry, down King Street in both cities; broadcast nationally by CTV (Thanksgiving Monday)
• "Dogtoberfest" - games and competitions for families with dogs, operated by the Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society.
• "Pridetoberfest" - the first in an annual activity held in 2006. The event is to celebrate the Gay Pride of Kitchener-Waterloo with Oktoberfest, hosted at The Aud.
• "Muchtoberfest" - an event promoted by Conestoga College in association with Much Music television, for college Oktoberfest night. Held on the Thursday of Oktoberfest.

See also

• Beer festival

External links

• Official site