Prost! It's Oktoberfest season in Kenosha and Racine! (2024)

Liz Snyder

As we head into the final weekend of September, we’re still in prime Oktoberfest season — and we’ve got the area events to prove it. Steins will be hoisted, polkas will be played and many, many pretzels will be consumed:

Rustic Road’s Lakeside Oktoberfest

KENOSHA — Rustic Road Brewing Company hosts its third outdoor Oktoberfest celebration, taking place over four days: Thursday, Sept. 26, through Sunday, Sept. 29.

The four-day event, featuring live music, food and family entertainment, takes place in Celebration Place in HarborPark, 5501 Ring Road at the Downtown lakefront, a short distance from Rustic Road Brewing Company.

It’s a safe bet there will be plenty of craft beers, too. Highlights include a dog costume contest, a “Brat Toss” and meat raffle.

The festival is open 4-10 p.m. Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.

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The live music schedule includes:

  • 4 p.m. Thursday: John Montella
  • 5 p.m. Friday: Spirit Shakers
  • 7:30 p.m. Friday: Peacetree All-Stars
  • Noon Saturday: Kai Andersen
  • 1 p.m. Saturday: Nuke Plant Chickens
  • 4 p.m. Saturday: Ben Mulwana
  • 7:30 p.m. Saturday: Revival (pop punk band)
  • 11:30 a.m. Sunday: Crossover band
  • 3 p.m. Sunday: Would You Kindly?

The food includes bratwurst from Hometown Meats, served on Paielli’s buns, along with giant pretzels, potato pancakes, schnitzel sandwiches, pickles-on-a-stick, charcuterie boxes and that old-fashioned German favorite (by way of Wisconsin), fried cheese curds.

Food vendors include Cut Stone Foods, MB Sweet Treats, Mr. Wings, Hydn Cheese and Pico’s Tacos.

The event also features a fundraiser “in support of brewer Andy’s daughter Ava and her battle against leukemia.”

The Fighting for Ava Foundation is hosting a dart ball tournament to raise money for families in Wisconsin battling childhood cancer.

Saturday is Veterans Day at the event, with $2 of every stein purchased will be donated to the Kenosha American Legion to support veterans. Also Saturday, the American Legion Stein Hoist — where men and women compete to hold a stein full of beer in front of their body with a straight arm — is 3:30 p.m.

Sunday morning, the event starts with a traditional German breakfast, served 9-11 a.m. as a buffet under a big tent. Tickets for the breakfast are $20 and must be purchased in advance. Go to RusticBrewing.com and click the “Oktoberfest” tab at the top.

Sunday is Family Day at the outdoor festival, with attractions for kids, including bounce houses, kids crafts, bubbles, balloon art and face painting.

At 2:30 p.m. Sunday, the festival features the Oktoberfest Dog Costume Contest. Dirndls and lederhosen are encouraged, but all doggie costumes are welcome.

At 3 p.m. Sunday, the festival features its first “Brat Toss.” It’s like an egg toss, but with a fully loaded bratwurst. Plastic aprons will be provided. The team to keep their brat in the bun the longest and farthest will be named the King or Queen Kraut of the 2024 Lakeside Oktoberfest.

The final event of the weekend is the Meat Raffle: Brat Slingshot. Tickets for the meat raffle are $10 and will give you entry into the “brat field.” Rustic Road will be launching packages of bratwurst via slingshot. What you catch, you keep.

‘Brat Trot’ run

Rustic Road’s Lakeside Oktoberfest event also features the 100-yard “Brat Trot” run on Saturday, to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Kenosha.

The “Wurst” runners from all over are welcome to “walk, skip, jog, run, roll, or crawl through the grueling 100-yard course” in this run.

Participants are encouraged to bring and wear Oktoberfest swag. Registration for the Sept. 28 event is $30 for adults and $15 for kids and includes a T-shirt, a post-race bratwurst or hot dog, a race bib and an adult beverage from Rustic Road Brewing, or a juice drink for kids.

Tickets are available at bgckenosha.org/events/brat-trot/. Note: Registration for the adults race is limited to people 21 and over. Spectators are free.

Oktoberfest of Greater Racine

FRANKSVILLE — The seventh annual Oktoberfest of Greater Racine is Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 26-29, at the Franksville Craft Beer Garden.

The four-day celebration, hosted by Lakefront Brewery and the beer garden, features live music, a pig roast, stein hoisting contests, hammerschlagen, yard games, food and, of course, plenty of beer.

Some 30-plus craft beers are on tap, and food is served by area food trucks. Live music will be performed on the stage and inside a 3,200-square-foot Oktoberfest tent. The festival’s “official Oktoberfest beer” is Lakefront Brewery’s Oktoberfest brew.

The schedule includes:

Thursday, 5-9 p.m.

  • 5 p.m.: Ceremonial Firkin’ Tapping by Russ & Jim Klisch of Lakefront Brewery
  • 4-6 p.m.: Music by Dobbie the Concertina Man
  • 6-9 p.m.: Live music with Jay Mattes
  • 7:20 p.m.: Stein hoisting contest
  • 5-9 p.n.: Food trucks Picos Tacos and Das Brat & Pretzel

Friday, 3-9 p.m.

  • 4 p.m.: Music by Dobbie the Concertina Man
  • 5 p.m.: Special Lakefront Beer Tapping
  • 6-9 p.m.: Live music with Trophy Husbands
  • 7:15 p.m.: Pretzel eating contest
    • 7:30 p.m.: Stein hoisting contest
    • 5-9 p.m.: Food trucks Das Brat & Pretzel, Rose Mob Grill, All About Tacos and RollMKE, plus a fish fry by Chef Brian of All About Tacos and Dann’s Catering

    Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

    • 2-5 p.m.: Music by Dobbie the Concertina Man
    • 1-6 p.m.: Bounce House (kids only)
    • 3 p.m.: Pig roast
    • 6-9 p.m.: Live music with HeadRush
    • 7:15 p.m.: Pretzel eating contest
    • 2, 5 and 7:30 p.m.: Stein hoisting contests
    • Noon to 9 p.m.: Food trucks Das Brat & Pretzel; Rose Mob Grill (1-9 p.m.), All About Tacos (1-9 p.m.) and RollMKE (1-9 p.m.)

    Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

    • Noon: NFL game livestream: Packers vs. Vikings
    • 1-4 p.m.: Music by Dobie the Concertina Man
    • 2 and 5 p.m.: Stein hoisting contests
    • 6 p.m.: Closing toast
    • Noon to 6 p.m.: Food Tucks Das Brat & Pretzel and Dragon Pit BBQ

    Admission is free. The beer garden is located in Franksville Memorial Park, 9614 Northwestern Ave. (Highway K).

    St. Mary’s Oktoberfest

    KENOSHA — St. Mary’s Lutheran Church, 2001 80th St., is hosting its third Oktoberfest Celebration, with a dinner and entertainment on Saturday.

    At 5:30 p.m. Sept. 28, doors open, with dinner starting at 6 p.m.

    The dinner includes bratwurst/knockwurst, German and regular potato salad, sauerkraut, baked beans, dessert and apple cider. Beer and wine are available for purchase.

    Chip Millholland will direct the MGV Harmonia German Chorus Choir and The Hungry Five and Friends, who will provide live music.

    Everyone is welcome. The cost is $12. Tickets are available at the door or in advance. For more details, call the church at 262-658-3555.

    More Oktoberfest action

    The Runaway Micropub & Nanobrewery, 109 E. Chestnut St. in Burlington, hosts Oktoberfest festivities on Saturdays, Sept. 28 and Oct. 5. Events run from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and include live music, German beers and Bavarian food. On Sept. 28, the celebration includes a food tent outside the Runaway. And on Oct. 5, the street is closed again for a vintage German car show and live music by the Kylar Kuzio band. The food and beer tent will both be back in the street that day.

New Glarus Oktoberfest,

  • Sept. 26-29 in downtown New Glarus. The outdoor event features live music, food, wagon rides, chainsaw carving — and new Glarus beers.

Germantown Oktoberfest

  • , Sept. 28-29 in Dheinsville Historic Park, an 1840s crossroad settlement of German pioneers. The festival has all the usual Oktoberfest staples: classic German dishes, traditional live music and a Dachshund Dash (3 p.m. Saturday).

Oktoberfest USA in La Crosse.

  • The longest running Oktoberfest in the Midwest — nicknamed Das Beste and ranked in the Top 10 Oktoberfest celebrations by USA Today — is Sept. 26-29 at the La Crosse Oktoberfest Grounds. Activities include two parades, fireworks, live music, carnival rides, local Wisconsin food vendors and plenty of beer.

Cedarburg Oktoberfest, Oct. 5-6 in the Cedarburg Community Center parking lot. Sausages are served all day. Polka dancing is encouraged on a wooden dance floor. And the competition is fierce in the German Spelling Bee, from Ault to Zither. A special feature is the live Glockenspiel Show, reappearing like clockwork every two hours.

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Prost! It's Oktoberfest season in Kenosha and Racine! (2024)
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