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From the Munich original to 2,000 copies worldwide: Oktoberfest has delighted people for 215 years with beer, music, and great fun. Image: Adobe Stock

Oktoberfest goes global: beer, brass and bavarian cheer

Christian Haas

The Bavarian Wiesn trinity of beer, pretzels, and brass music has long since traveled beyond Munich, drawing hundreds of thousands of people worldwide—each celebration infused with its own local flavor.

More than 215 years after its debut, the Munich Oktoberfest shows no signs of losing appeal—on the contrary, its popularity keeps growing. Beer consumption, roast chicken, and oxen devoured continue to climb, while visitor numbers remain extraordinary. In 2024, some 6.7 million people flocked to the Wiesn, securing its reputation as the world’s largest folk festival.

With such success—and ever-expanding media attention—imitators were inevitable. And they have appeared in droves. Today, around 2,000 Oktoberfest replicas are staged worldwide. It’s little wonder: abroad, the Oktoberfest has become synonymous with tradition, conviviality, and a lively atmosphere, bringing together young and old, locals and visitors alike, in a spirit of joyful celebration.

The counterfeits are particularly popular in the USA. From mid-July to mid-November, numerous towns celebrate this festival with its quintessential Bavarian tradition, which is synonymous with all things German there. Cincinnati, as Munich's twin city, confidently calls its «Zinzinnati Oktoberfest» the «mother of all Oktoberfests» – and points to the approximately 600,000 guests it attracts annually. And they come over just four days!

In 1994, the festival even made it into the Guinness Book of Records when 48,000 visitors took part in the Duck Dance. While this had nothing to do with the Munich model, it still added a special touch. It was a blast!

But even without special city partnerships, US Oktoberfests enjoy great popularity. Tulsa, Oklahoma, for example, advertises itself as the «Best German Fest in the West» and welcomes more than 200,000 guests annually.

Philadelphia celebrates the «Cannstatter Oktoberfest,» cheerfully uniting its German «rivals,» the Munich Oktoberfest and the Cannstatter Wasen. San Francisco's «Oktoberfest by the Bay» also achieved a certain level of fame – with «tasty German food,» «cold Bavarian beer,» and brassy oompah music.

The largest Oktoberfest on the North American continent, however, takes place beyond the Great Lakes. Every October, more than 800,000 visitors flock to Kitchener-Waterloo, near Toronto, to celebrate in one of the 17 festival halls.

True Bavarians would be aghast: in Munich, the Maß—a full liter—is the only acceptable measure of beer. In Canada, however, the standard pour comes in a modest 12-ounce glass, closer to a pilsner. Still, the smaller size hardly dampens the festive mood. With lively parades, endless sausage and pretzel stalls, and even free carnival rides—a notable difference—the Canadian version has plenty to keep spirits high.

Bavarian samba

Having fun is also the motto in southern Brazil. In the small town of Blumenau, around 600,000 Oktoberfest fans enjoy German culture for 18 days every year at the «Deutsch Village Park» – with a distinctly Brazilian influence. Blumenau’s Oktoberfest comes with a Brazilian twist, featuring samba parades and roadside caipirinha stands.

Oktoberfests, the biggest events on Brazil’s festival calendar after Carnival, are also celebrated in Santa Cruz do Sul and several other cities. The reason lies in heritage: Brazil is home to an estimated four to five million people of German descent, most of them living in the country’s south. Here, family traditions are kept alive—and often revived—with beer, music, and folk festivities.

Radi with seaweed

A certain connection to Bavarian or German culture seems to be necessary. How difficult it is to create a replica without history and passion is demonstrated by the example of Beijing, where an attempt was made to install a superlative Oktoberfest in 2011. Hardly anyone showed up. A stark contrast to the brewery hub of Qingdao, where the «International Beer Festival» grew into a massive crowd-puller—today ranked as the world’s second-largest Oktoberfest.

Waitresses were even flown in from Bavaria to this large city in eastern China, a German colony from 1898 to 1914, because they could carry more beer. A bizarre image, which also applies to the Bavarian-Chinese cuisine (liver sausage with basmati rice and seaweed, skewered lobster with pretzels), as well as to the musical mix of samba, dragon dance, can-can, and Schuhplattler.

Other Asian cities, from Phnom Penh to Bangkok, Singapore to Tokyo, also offer «original» Oktoberfests, although these often take place on a smaller scale in hotels, restaurants, and clubs rather than outdoors. In Shanghai, for example, an Oktoberfest is celebrated annually at the Renaissance Yangtze Shanghai Hotel, which is considered one of the most famous and popular festivals in China. What the organizers highlight with particular pride: serving original Paulaner beer.

Oktoberfest worldwide

But Oktoberfest fever doesn’t stop in Munich—it has gone global. In Africa, for instance, the Namibian capital of Windhoek hosts its own Oktoberfest each year, complete with a festival band, beer tent, stein-lifting contests, sawing competitions, and the traditional Hau den Lukas game. Even the Caribbean joins in: in Kingston, Jamaica, the German Society stages an annual Oktoberfest where Weißwurst and Leberkäse share the spotlight with local vibes. And in Australia, several Oktoberfests compete for the claim of being “the one and only,” with Brisbane and Ipswich leading the way.

The title of «most remote Oktoberfest» goes to Jundah, Queensland. Reaching this outback village requires a 16-hour drive from Brisbane, the nearest major city. With just 70 residents, Jundah still embraces Bavarian spirit—going so far as to «Germanize» its street names during the festivities.The celebration features traditional touches like costumes, beer, and brass band music, but also adds its own local flair: sheep and dog races on sand tracks lend the event a distinctly Australian twist.

Oktoberfest replicas aren’t limited to far-off continents—they thrive closer to home as well. In Austria, the town of Hartberg in Styria has been hosting its own Oktoberfest for more than 50 years. Switzerland celebrates in multiple cities, from Zurich—where the «Züri Wiesn» takes over the main train station—to Winterthur, Solothurn, Thun, and beyond. And in Italy, those unable to cross the Brenner Pass can simply raise a glass at the Milan Oktoberfest.

The biggest imitator, however, comes from Prussia, of all places. With around one million visitors, the Hanover Oktoberfest, held annually since 1964, is one of the largest of its kind – worldwide. Even bigger, however, is the Cannstatter Wasn near Stuttgart, which, with three to four million visitors, repeatedly challenges the Munich Oktoberfest for the title of «largest folk festival in the world.» Yet the gap between them still runs into the millions.

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