Oktoberfest in North Carolina 2024

It looks like North Carolina has a pretty decent list of 2024 Oktoberfest festivals. Find one near you to celebrate your German heritage – or to enjoy a brat and a beer, some great music and dancing, and fun under the tent!

Last Major Update:

Still plenty of Oktoberfest parties running all the way up to November to enjoy, so Prost!

All events showing current dates need to be verified to confirm that changes to the schedule were not made by the organizers after publication here. We do not run these events, and would hate for anyone to go out of their way only to find the event had been canceled after releasing a date. Please click through to the event website to confirm! Be safe and have a great fall!

2024 Events

Hickory Oktoberfest - Hickory, NC - Oct 11 to Oct 13, 2024
A three day outdoor festival on the second weekend in October generally attended by more than 100,000 people. Get your exercise in with a 5K run/walk or 10K run. Consume a beverage in one of the two beer gardens. Multiple stages offer live music from polka to rock & roll. Juried arts and crafts show of handmade products offers prizes to the top three artisans. First prize is $300, second prize is $200 and third prize is $100. Amusement rides, carnival games and KidFest area for children. Hundreds of food and commercial vendors will be there offering delicious food from barbecue to Bavarian pastries, as well as unique products and art. Location: Union Square, Main Ave NW, Hickory, NC 28601

You may also be interested in the surrounding states that also host Oktoberfest parties: Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia.

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Past Events

Onslow Oktoberfest - Jacksonville, NC - Oct 27 to Oct 28, 2023
The community fundraiser for Onslow Community Outreach includes live music and 5K run. Children’s area offers entertainment, amusement rides, games, micro racing, animal park and home improvement workbench/clinics. The festival was started in 2008. Location: Riverwalk Crossing Park, 421 Court Street, Jacksonville, NC

Calabash Oktoberfest - Calabash, NC - Oct 21, 2023
Activities include Bavarian costume contest, arm wrestling contest, horse drawn carriage, best bier stein contest, and children’s entertainment. Enjoy authentic German food and Munich beer.

Wilmington Oktoberfest - Wilmington, NC - Oct 14, 2023
This annual Oktoberfest will include authentic German food and beer, wiener dog races, live music and kids zone. Admission is $5 – admission money goes to local organizations.

Oktoberfest at Roaring River Vineyards - Traphill, NC - Oct 7 to Oct 8, 2023
Three weekends of Oktoberfest with authentic German beer, food, and live music.

Kernersville Oktoberfest - Kernersville, NC - Oct 7, 2023
Kernersville Oktoberfest will be held from 3-6 pm on the lawn at Korner’s Folly. Must be 21+ to attend. All proceeds benefit Historic Korner’s Folly. Craft beer enthusiasts can look forward to tasting German, Oktoberfest, and Pumpkin brews! Local restaurants donate delicious small bites for a taste of light appetizers.

Asheville Oktoberfest - Asheville, NC - Oct 7, 2023
This Oktoberfest mixes Bavaria with Asheville. Local breweries, oompah band, Oktoberfest games and food. Tickets are limited and they expect them to sell out. Oktoberfest contests like the stein race and keg-rolling contest will be back, as well as new competitions to keep everyone on their toes. Pack Square Park in downtown Asheville

Sugar Mountain Resort Oktoberfest - Village of Sugar Mountain, NC - Oct 7 to Oct 8, 2023
Annual Oktoberfest with fall foliage and a weekend of festival activities. The Harbour Town Fest Band will be filling the area with live music and Bavarian atmosphere from the Oom Pah Band every afternoon. The Avery Smooth Dancers and the Mountain Laurel Cloggers will get you out of your seat and moving with them. Bavarian food will include bratwurst, knockwurst sauerkraut, pretzels, strudel and Spaten Oktoberfest beer. This is a family friendly event with arts & crafts and children’s fun center (including inflatable bounce houses and hay rides). Admission is free. Free parking with shuttle service. Pets are welcome if they are on a leash, but they will not be allowed inside or on the deck. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to enjoy the breathtaking views and fall colors with a ski chairlift ride. Round trip ride takes 45 minutes and costs $12 for a one-time ride or $25 for an all-day ticket.

Triangle Oktoberfest - Cary, NC - Oct 6 to Oct 7, 2023
Presented by the Apex Sunrise and Cary MacGregor Rotary Clubs in collaboration with the Town of Cary, the Annual Triangle Oktoberfest is an authentic German festival focused on family fun, traditional Bavarian food and fare, and plenty of local and authentic German beers from Munich, all to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and other local and international charities. Live entertainment, Wiener dog races, a kid-friendly Kinder Platz (inflatables and face painting), Masskrugstemmen (stein hoist), and Hammerschlagen (hammer striking) competitions.

Lafayette Village Oktoberfest - Raleigh, NC - Sep 30, 2023
Enjoy German food, local craft beer, live music and wiener dog races at this village located on six acres in North Raleigh. There are also kids games, crafts and door prizes. Lafayette Village is designed to resemble a European village with quaint shops, gourmet restaurants and paved walkways. and stuff

Oktoberfest Under the Bridge - Wilmington, NC - Sep 30, 2023
Waterline Brewing Company brings back the huge tent, the region’s best Oom-pah band, games (including the famous Stein holding competition), food, liter steins, their annual Oktoberfest Beer, “Most Festively Dressed” contest and more

New Bern Oktoberfest - New Bern, NC - Sep 29, 2023
Oktoberfest at the Garage

Oktoberfest Party @ Raleigh Brewing Company - Raleigh, NC - Sep 10, 2023

Durham Oktoberfest - Durham, NC - Oct 15, 2022
The Little German Band and dancers will entertain with oompah music and dancing. Beer inside the Motorco decorated as a beer hall. Bratwurst and pretzels will also be available.

Waldhorn Restaurant Oktoberfest - Pineville, NC - Sep 18 to Oct 10, 2021
This German restaurant opens up for their annual Oktoberfest with German food and live music under the tent. Dance the night away to music bands.

Mills River Oktoberfest - Mills River, NC - Oct 9 to Oct 10, 2020
Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest welcomes thousands of lederhosen-clad and dirndl-sporting beer lovers to hoist a stein and Prost like a Pro! Come for a festive night of craft beer, bountiful food, costumes, dancing, raucous music, and more. Dress your best and brush up on your Chicken Dance skills.

Triad German Club Oktoberfest - Winston-Salem, NC - Oct 5, 2019
This Winston-Salem Oktoberfest is hosted by the Triad German Club and includes live music. Tickets include a traditional style German food platter with sausages,  sauerkraut, potato salad, bread and pastry. Beverages, including German beer, pretzel  are sold separately. A portion of the proceeds benefit schools with German language and culture programs.

We hope you enjoy these celebrations of Oktoberfest. Let us know below which one you've headed to and which one you like the best!

We have added maps with the locations of each Oktoberfest. We may not have had the exact location for each Oktoberfest so in some instances we have placed the marker in the general vicinity of the Oktoberfest. Be sure to get specific directions from another source and do not solely rely on our map at the moment. We have also noticed that the markers may not show up on some mobile browsers. We will work to sort out this bug in the future.

Please confirm dates, locations and activities available at the Oktoberfest before going. That's one reason that we provide a website address when we find one. We attempt to ensure that the information for each Oktoberfest is accurate but there are bound to be a few errors. If you let us know when you find one, we will fix it. In some cases, we may link to last year's event when information for this year is not yet available. Do not be fooled.

The festivals listed range in size. Some events may have hundreds of thousands of attendees. Others may have only a handful. We're sorry that we don't have more information about attendance numbers at the moment. We will do our best to add this information as time goes on.

Professionalism varies as well. Some Oktoberfests are professional operations with large budgets. Others are local operations run by volunteers. Do your due diligence before making plans to attend so that you know what to expect. We will happily publish information about your experience with any Oktoberfest so that our visitors will be better informed in the future.

Some Oktoberfests are more family friendly than others. If you have small children, look for an Oktoberfest that has activities for kids. Other events start out with family friendly activities and become more adult oriented as it becomes later in the evening.

Not all Oktoberfest celebrations will be authentic German festival experiences. Some may simply be an excuse to drink rather than celebrate German heritage. Some may call themselves Oktoberfest but provide local or seasonal beer rather than authentic German Oktoberfest beer. Be sure to consider the type of celebration that you are looking to attend when you pick your Oktoberfest.

Activities offered at each Oktoberfest varies. Some activities that you may find are parades, keg tapping ceremony, beer gardens, Miss Oktoberfest or costume contests, stein holding contests, bratwurst eating contest, chicken dance, wiener races, keg toss, live German bands and local entertainment, polka dancing and fairground games. Some Oktoberfest events will just have beer and brats.

Please don't drink and drive. We want everyone to get home safe. Use a designated driver or take public transportation. Uber and Lyft often offer ride credits for new users.

We've got some other resources that would help you prepare for Oktoberfest as well. Read about the history of Oktoberfest. Learn about Oktoberfest beer. Find the words to Oktoberfest music. Plan your Oktoberfest outfit. And try cooking some of these Oktoberfest recipes.

Do you run one of the Oktoberfests listed? Feel free to send us additional information and we will add it. We apologize for any errors: send us corrections or updates if you find them! We also love to list new Oktoberfests, and have advertising solutions if you'd like to reach a wider audience.

Find other fun things to do in North Carolina in fall:

North Carolina Festivals
North Carolina Corn Mazes
North Carolina Ghost Tours
Haunted Houses in North Carolina
North Carolina Pumpkin Patches

8 thoughts on “Oktoberfest in North Carolina 2024

  1. Chef Paul says:

    This year I am hosting my 3rd annual Oktoberfest at the Bavarian Brathaus in Durham NC. This will start on Sept 7th with the Little German Band in our biergarten under our Spaten Bier Tent and continue for 8 weekends of live German music, authentic German dishes, and only authentic Bavarian Fassbier. I have 18 German Draft beers on tap everyday. Please list my 8 week Oktoberfest on your site. Chef Paul

  2. Arn Vogt says:

    PLEASE NOTE A CORRECTION TO YOUR EVENT LISTINGS:
    The Triad German Club Oktoberfest IS IN GREENSBORO, NC this year– NOT IN Winston-Salem, as in past years. This year’s festival is in the beautiful Empire Room and Terrace located at 203 South Elm Street in Downtown Greensboro on Saturday, September 30, 2017 from 5pm to 11pm– 3 bands, authentic German food and beer for sale. Tickets $10 in advance and $12 at door per person– children under 14 get Free Admission. Reserved Tables for up to 10 people are available for $50 in addition to the ticket price.
    Correction made by: Arn Vogt, Treasurer and Board Director, Triad German Club

  3. Arn Vogt says:

    PLEASE CORRECT YOUR CALENDAR FOR “TRIAD GERMAN CLUB OKTOBERFEST”– Our festival this year is in Greensboro, NC on September 30th, as shown, from 5pm to 11 pm at the Empire Room and Terrace in The Elm Street Center on 203 South Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27401– NOT Millennium Center in W-S, as in past years. Kids under 14 get FREE Admission.

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