Austin's longest-running Oktoberfest with German beer, food, live music and traditional culture at the historic German Free School.
Austin Oktoberfest returns to the German Free School on Saturday, October 10, from 11 AM to 7 PM. It's the German-Texan Heritage Society's longest-running Oktoberfest, and they build it around German music, food, beer and the word Gemütlichkeit—a state of warmth, friendship and belonging.
The music runs all day. Bushy Creek Band opens from 11 AM to 1 PM, followed by Walburg Boys from 1 PM to 5 PM, and Yodel Blitz closing it out from 5 PM to 7 PM. For drinks, there's beer from Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr, wine from William Chris and Rhineland Pfalz, and German food from IM Catering. Traditional German attire is encouraged, though you don't have to wear it to fit in.
The setting is the terraced gardens of the German Free School at 507 E. 10th Street in the Red River Cultural District. It's one of Austin's oldest landmarks and the birthplace of public education in Texas: founded by German immigrants in the 1850s as a school open to children regardless of religious affiliation, it opened in 1858 on land donated by the von Rosenberg family and later served as a model for public education across Texas cities. It's now a City of Austin Landmark and a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
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The German-Texan Heritage Society, which puts the festival on, was founded in 1978 to preserve the history of German families who immigrated to Texas in the 1830s and was named a Preserve America Steward in 2010. Tickets are $20 per person, and kids 12 and under are free; all sales are final, so no refunds.
