Oktoberfest To Expand, Celebrate Gaithersburg Faces Changes

Gaithersburg's Oktoberfest festival will remain in Kentlands and expand, while Celebrate Gaithersburg will have a new date and theme, City Manager Tony Tomasello told the Mayor and City Council during a fiscal 2014 budget presentation Monday.

Oktoberfest, held for the past 21 years in Kentlands, will expand toward Market Square and Main Street, The Gazette reported. 

The festival also will add another stage of music while the beer garden and Bavarian dancers will return, with some additional activities for families, city Arts and Events Division Chief Denise Kayser told The Gazette.

The city considered major changes to both Oktoberfest and Celebrate Gaithersburg. In January, Kayser suggested scrapping Kentlands Oktoberfest for a summer arts and wine festival in the neighborhood.

Many Patch users weighed in on the potential change, and will likely be pleased to learn Oktoberfest will remain a Gaithersburg mainstay.

"The Kentlands Oktoberfest is the best local festival that I know of," North Potomac-Darnestown Patch user Elly said. "It does get crowded but that's a sign of its success. The entertainment is outstanding."

Another North Potomac-Darnestown user, Harold DeWeese, supports the Kentlands event because it's the last of its kind in the area.

"It's bad enought that Germantown no longer has an Oktoberfest—let's keep the one we have left," DeWeese wrote. "If Kayser wants a summer arts, music and wine event and an additonal fall event then have it but do not do away with what we have now!"

Meanwhile, Celebrate Gaithersburg will be postponed until June 2014, The Gazette reported.

“Moving the festival to early summer takes a significant amount of pressure off our police, public works and events staff,” Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney A. Katz said, according to the report.

Click here to read the full report in The Gazette.

Patch users expressed more support for changes to Celebrate Gaithersburg than Oktoberfest.

"I believe Olde Towne Day or Celebrate Gaithersburg had a successful run in earlier years but now needs to be retired," Gaithersburg Patch user JoAnn Schimke said.

It's unclear what the theme for Celebrate Gaithersburg will be in 2014. Multiple users liked Kayser's proposed arts and wine festival—just not as a replacement for Oktoberfest. 

"Clearly Kentlands is a great draw for these events, so add the Wine/Art festival but why lose Octoberfest?" Gaithersburg Patch user Kim Chase wrote. "That would be a shame!"

"Hosting a music and wine festival in Kentlands makes perfect sense as well, seeing as the Arts Barn is located there," Gaithersburg Patch user "Gaithersburg Resident" wrote.

A major concern for a summer festival in Kentlands is its proximity to Kentlands Day, Katz said in January.

Kentlands Day is typically held the first weekend in May.

Related Content:

•  (March 12, 2013)
• On The Agenda: Proposed Changes To City Events (March 11, 2013)
•  (Jan. 23, 2013)