Long before “Oktoberfest” became a marketing buzzword slapped on every brewery’s fall menu, a handful of American towns were already tapping kegs, firing up polka bands, and squeezing into lederhosen every autumn. Some started as chamber-of-commerce publicity stunts, others as pure German-immigrant homesickness, but all of them have outlasted fads, recessions, and at least one pandemic to keep the steins flowing decades later. Here are the ten oldest Oktoberfest celebrations still running in the United States today.

1) La Crosse, Wisconsin — Oktoberfest USA (1961)
Widely recognized as the oldest true “Oktoberfest” in the country, La Crosse’s celebration was dreamed up by a group of civic leaders in 1960 who wanted a signature event to put their Mississippi River town on the map. The first fest ran just three days in October 1961; today it stretches into a four-day, 150,000-person party with two full parades — the Maple Leaf Parade and the nighttime Torchlight Parade — plus stein-holding contests, a Biergarten, and enough bratwurst to feed a small army. Locals simply call it “Das Beste.”
Address: 1 Oktoberfest Strasse, La Crosse, WI 54602
Website: https://www.oktoberfestusa.com

2) New Braunfels, Texas — Wurstfest (1961)
Technically a sausage festival rather than a festival named “Oktoberfest,” Wurstfest still ties La Crosse for the earliest start of any German-heritage fall festival in the U.S. — dreamed up by the town’s own meat inspector in 1961 as an excuse to celebrate New Braunfels’ German settlers and their considerable sausage-making skills. Ten days each November bring polka bands, a carnival midway, and enough smoked links to make any Bavarian proud, all set in the Texas Hill Country’s most German town.
Address: Wurstfest Grounds, Landa Park, New Braunfels, TX 78130
Website: https://www.wurstfest.com

3) Hamilton, Ohio — Liberty Home Association Oktoberfest (1966)
Tucked into Butler County just north of Cincinnati, this one’s a hidden gem even most Ohioans haven’t heard of. The Liberty Home Association, a German-American social club, has thrown its Oktoberfest every Labor Day weekend since 1966, making it one of the oldest continuously running German festivals in the Midwest. Expect homemade bratwurst and sauerkraut balls, an authentic wooden keg tapping, steinholding contests, and the kind of small-town charm that’s disappeared from most big-city Oktoberfests.
Address: 2361 Hamilton-Cleves Rd, Hamilton, OH 45013
Website: https://www.libertyhome.net

4) Mount Angel, Oregon — Mount Angel Oktoberfest (1966)
The Pacific Northwest’s answer to Munich, Mount Angel’s festival honors the town’s Bavarian and Swiss heritage with a four-day celebration that swells this tiny community to well over 300,000 visitors. Each day kicks off with the traditional “Webertanz” dance, and the town’s Glockenspiel chimes out local history every hour on the hour. Five biergartens pour German beers, wines, and Oregon craft brews alongside alpenhorns, schuhplattler dancers, and rows of alpine-chalet food booths.
Address: Mount Angel Oktoberfest Grounds, Mount Angel, OR 97362
Website: https://www.oktoberfest.org

5) Helen, Georgia — Helen Oktoberfest (1970)
Helen wasn’t always Bavarian — it was a fading lumber town until three local businessmen and an artist gave it a full Alpine facelift in 1969 to save it from economic collapse. The very next year, Helen launched its own Oktoberfest, and it’s been running ever since, now stretching across most of September and October, which makes it the longest-running Oktoberfest by sheer number of festival days in the country. It all happens inside the riverside Festhalle, where polka bands, keg tappings, and platters of schnitzel and sauerkraut never seem to stop.
Address: Helen Festhalle, 1074 Edelweiss Strasse, Helen, GA 30545
Website: https://www.helenchamber.com

6) Cincinnati, Ohio — Oktoberfest Zinzinnati (1976)
Cincinnati didn’t invent the Oktoberfest, but it perfected the “bigger is better” version — Zinzinnati is billed as the largest Oktoberfest in the United States and the second largest in the world, drawing crowds well north of half a million people. What started downtown in 1976 has since relocated along the Ohio River to Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove, where it now fills a massive tent modeled after the real Theresienwiese in Munich. Come hungry: this is the birthplace of the World’s Largest Chicken Dance.
Address: Sawyer Point Park & Yeatman’s Cove, 705 E Pete Rose Way, Cincinnati, OH 45202
Website: https://www.oktoberfestzinzinnati.com

7) Tulsa, Oklahoma — Zeeco Oktoberfest Tulsa (1979)
Tulsa’s Oktoberfest actually gave birth to the local German-American Society, which formed informally in 1979 when a group of native-born Germans pitched in to help run the city’s very first festival. Nearly half a century later, it’s grown into a River West Festival Park tradition with more than 200 taps of German and local biers, an actual glockenspiel with hourly skits, and enough dachshund races and keg-throwing contests to earn it USA Today’s #1 Oktoberfest ranking two years running.
Address: River West Festival Park, 2100 S Jackson Ave, Tulsa, OK 74107
Website: https://www.tulsaoktoberfest.org

8) Fredericksburg, Texas — Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg (1981)
Founded by the Pedernales Creative Arts Alliance to fund scholarships and grants for local students, Fredericksburg’s Oktoberfest has anchored the town’s Marktplatz every October since 1981. This Hill Country town — officially the “Polka Capital of Texas” — packs its three-day fest with waltz and polka dance contests, a stein-hoist competition, a Kraut Run, and a wine and beer selection that leans as heavily German as it does Texan.
Address: Marktplatz, 126 W Main St, Fredericksburg, TX 78624
Website: https://www.oktoberfestinfbg.com

9) New Ulm, Minnesota — Downtown Oktoberfest (1983)
Known as “the most German town in America,” New Ulm’s German roots run back to the 1850s and Schell’s Brewery, founded in 1860 and still pouring today. The Chamber of Commerce’s official two-weekend Downtown Oktoberfest got its start in the early 1980s and now closes off Minnesota Street for a full day of polka, Bavarian food, and steinholding championships, with Schell’s Brewery hosting its own companion celebration out at the historic brewery grounds.
Address: Minnesota Street, New Ulm, MN 56073
Website: https://www.newulm.com

10) Frankenmuth, Michigan — Frankenmuth Oktoberfest (1990)
The youngest fest on this list is also one of the most authentic: Frankenmuth’s Oktoberfest began in 1990 to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall, and within six years it became the first Oktoberfest in the U.S. officially sanctioned by the Lord Mayor of Munich himself. That blessing came with a bonus — Frankenmuth was the first American town to import Hofbräuhaus beer straight from Germany, and it’s remained the festival’s official sponsor ever since.
Address: Heritage Park, Frankenmuth, MI 48734
Website: https://www.frankenmuthfestivals.com

From a Wisconsin river town to a fake Bavarian village in the Georgia mountains, these ten festivals prove that America’s love affair with Oktoberfest is anything but a passing trend. Whichever one you visit, grab a stein, learn the chicken dance, and prost to a tradition that’s been going strong for generations — Prost!