German American Societies Oktoberfest

“German American Societies of San Diego Oktoberfest — decades of…”

German American Heritage Center, 1850 Heritage Park Row, San Diego. October 17th. The German American Societies Oktoberfest in Old Town San Diego — the version of the festival that the German American community runs for itself and opens to the city, with the food, the beer, and the music that don't require theming because they're the real thing.

The German American Heritage Center is a genuine cultural institution — not an event venue, a place that exists to maintain a community's connection to its history. The Oktoberfest it hosts is the community gathering version: the recipes are family recipes, the music is performed by people who play it because it belongs to them, and the biergarten atmosphere reflects an actual tradition rather than a version of one constructed for tourism.

gas-sd.org for ticket details and the event schedule. October 17th in Old Town. The setting — Heritage Park, surrounded by Victorian architecture and the Old Town district — gives the event a specific San Diego character that other cities' Oktoberfests don't have. Come for the schnitzel and the pretzels and the music. Stay for the beer and the conversation with people who have been doing this for years longer than you've been attending.