New Oktoberfest Event is Coming to Rochester, MN

UPDATE: We have learned that this event is not being hosted by the city, which I originally thought. The event is being organized by Brad Trahan, the organizer of Downtown Dazzle. The event is presented by DBS Group. Apologies for the confusion.

Rochester, Minnesota is getting a brand new Oktoberfest celebration! There are quite a few different Oktoberfest events that happen in town, but none of them are a city event. Until now.

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What is Oktoberfest?

I personally love Oktoberfest. Is it because we mostly celebrate by getting together with friends, drinking beer, and yelling 'Prost!'? Absolutely.

But what's the history of Oktoberfest? And also, why is it called Oktoberfest when it's not even celebrated in October? I've done research on this in the past and written about it before.

Here's a summary from a past article I wrote:

"In 1810, the prince of Bolvaria, Prince Ludwig, married Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen in Munich, Germany.

This wedding was a big deal and the festivities began on October 12th, 1810, and lasted until October 17th.

Price Ludwig and Princess Therese thought the party was so amazing that they wanted to do it again next year. And so they did. And the next year. And the next year."

Eventually, they decided to move the celebration to September instead because the weather was better. Yeah, that's why it's in September. Fair, though.

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Rochester, MN Oktoberfest 2025

A special event permit application has officially been submitted to host an Oktoberfest celebration in downtown Rochester.

This is going to be awesome! There's going to be live music, plenty of German food and beer from local vendors, and fun competitions and games. The application says there will be things like stien-holding contests, a costume contest, and bobbing for apples.

Assuming that this gets approved, we'll have our first Rochester Oktoberfest on Saturday, September 27th, and it would go from 11 AM - 10 PM. Mark your calendars!

The plan is to host the party on 1st Ave. SW between 2nd St. SW and 4th St. SW. That's also one of the streets that Thursdays Downtown is hosted on.

I'm really excited about this! I would imagine that it will all get approved, so I'm very much looking forward to checking this out.