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It’s fairly rare for the Sunshine City of St. Pete to have a full day of cloudy and rainy skies but that happened to us back in October of 2021. (Told you I am finally playing catch up!) We were antsy to get out of the house and do something fun and local on a Friday night so naturally I took to the internet and searched for things going on in the community that might be indoors. I then stumbled across the Oktoberfest in Pinellas Park and it happened to be the final weekend for it and just up the road from us. Back in Columbus OH, we were obsessed with our fall festivals (German, Greek, Irish, Italian) and honestly hadn’t found too many here in FL that impressed us the same way but thought… what can it hurt to check it out?
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We LOVED it! The Pinellas Park Oktoberfest is hosted by The German American Society of Pinellas County and has been voted “Best of the Bay” for being “Tampa Bay’s most authentic Oktoberfest”!!! Finally, a festival that made us feel like we were home and it’s practically in our backyard!
We got there early and found parking which can be very difficult to do (FYI- very limited parking lot so it’s best to rideshare) and loved having the place practically to ourselves for a bit. If you know my husband you know he loves history and culture and getting there early allowed him to speak to a lot of people involved in the society and it made the experience that much more special. They had an adorable main event hall and outdoor area where they had tents, seating, and umbrellas. We lucked out and the sky stopped falling and we were able to spend the entire evening outside and even had a lovely sunset sky.
The schedule of events was packed full of people watching and entertainment like traditional German dancing, live music, keg tapping ceremony, Bier Stein holding contest, parade of flags, merchandise vendors, and of course the incredible homemade German foods, desserts, and drink!!
Sadly we missed this event last year but we are very excited to attend again this year! Check out the official website for dates and schedules here.
Happy Fall! Prost!
Love Octoberfest🎃