The tuba gets there first. Somewhere under a striped tent on Marktplatz, an oompah band finds its footing, and the sound rolls down Main Street past the limestone storefronts. By the time you reach the gate, the air smells like grilled sausage, and a few hundred strangers are getting ready to do the chicken dance together without a trace of embarrassment.
That is Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg, and this year it runs October 2 through 4.
The German part is not a costume. Fredericksburg was settled by German pioneers in the 1840s, and German stayed the everyday language in town until the 1900s. The festival came much later. The Pedernales Creative Arts Alliance started it in 1981 as a way to raise money for local arts, and the proceeds still go back into the community through scholarships, grants and the free summer concerts on Marktplatz.
So every beer bought here helps pay for a Gillespie County kid’s art school tuition. Consider that permission.
The festival takes over a full city block in the heart of downtown, centered on Marktplatz. At any given hour there are five stages going, with polka, waltzes and oompah in steady rotation. The beer halls pour around 50 varieties from Germany, Texas and beyond, and Hill Country wineries pour too, for anyone who came for the wine instead.
The food runs straight down the German middle, which is exactly where you want it. More than a dozen vendors work the grounds. Look for sausage on a stick, full plates piled with kraut, and potato pancakes hot off the griddle. A little advice from people who have learned the hard way: the popular stands can sell out, especially by Sunday. If there’s something specific you drove four hours for, get it early.
Then there’s everything else. There’s the chicken dance, a polka contest, a 42 domino tournament, the Kraut Run, and a dirndl and lederhosen contest that is every bit as competitive as it sounds. Kids get their own space, the Kinderpark, with games and activities. The Strassen Zelt, the street tent on Adams Street, keeps adding seats every year and still fills up.
A few practical notes before you load the car.
Hours are 6 p.m. to midnight on Friday, 10 a.m. to midnight on Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Adult admission is $15 for one day, $20 for two, and $25 for all three. Kids 7 to 12 pay a dollar a day, and children 6 and under get in free. Advance tickets are sold on the festival website, and buying ahead gets you through the gate faster.
Once you’re inside, cash and cards stop working. The food tents, beer halls and Kinderpark all run on festival tickets, which you buy at booths scattered around the grounds. There are ATMs near the entrances.
Parking downtown on an Oktoberfest Saturday is a losing game. Use the Park & Ride instead. It runs Friday and Saturday from the Gillespie County Fairgrounds, and you can buy festival admission there before you board.
Rooms go fast for this weekend, so book now. The Fredericksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau keeps current listings for hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts and RV parks, and it can be reached at 830-997-6523. The Visit Fredericksburg site is a good place to start.
Leave Dallas early Saturday and you’ll roll into town about the time the first bands are warming up. Stay until the last waltz, sleep somewhere with a porch, and drive home Sunday still humming the polka. Plenty of worse ways to spend a fall weekend in Texas.
