Preparations well underway for 49th K-W Oktoberfest
Posted Sep 7, 2017 03:31:12 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The countdown is on, with 30 days to go until beers are raised at Kitchener-Waterloo’s 49th Oktoberfest.
Festival organizers say preparations are well under way for the largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany. Up to 700,000 festival-goers from all over the world expected to descend on downtown venues for the celebrations next month.
Executive Director Alfred Lowrick says he’s pleased with the pace of how things are going to bring the nine-day festival to life.
“Our festhalle partners are all on board. They’re doing a great job and their ticket sales are in great shape. I think we’re about 30 per cent over last year at this point in time,” Lowrick says. “So I’m pleased with that.”
The first official keg will be tapped outside Kitchener City Hall at the Opening Ceremonies on October 6th. But Lowrick can’t say who will tap the keg, which saw Prime Minister Justin Trudeau do the honours last year.
“There are some options available to us, and all those things come together right now depending on availability of who’s going to be in the area. So we have some asks out and some things in the works, but nothing confirmed at this point,” says Lowrick, adding that’s not unusual, as the keg tapping ceremony is always something that comes together at the last minute.
There are also some citizen, family and culture events in the downtown, and bands and concert series where the I’s still need to be dotted and the T’s crossed.
To purchase tickets online click here (oktoberfest.ca) or by visiting the Oktoberfest head office at 17 Benton Street in Kitchener.
