Waterloo Region’s annual nine-day salute to Bavarian culture officially kicked off Friday afternoon, with the tapping of the keg at Carl Zehr Square in downtown Kitchener.
Friday wasn’t the first Oktoberfest event of 2015 – Cambridge and Waterloo had their own keg-tapping ceremonies earlier in the week, and other festivities have taken place over the past month – but it is still considered the actual start of the festival itself.
Festival president Alfred Lowrick said that ticket sales through the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest office are up 10 per cent over 2014, with festhalls expecting similar crowds as they entertained last year.
Between all of the events associated with Oktoberfest, he expects about 700,000 people to take part in the festival.
One of the highlights will be Monday’s parade, which is running along a new route this year due to construction on parts of King Street.
The parade will begin at 8:30 a.m. at King and Cedar streets, then move up King to Victoria Street, and take Victoria over to Weber Street.
It will continue on along Weber, ending at Bridgeport Road in Waterloo.
Hockey broadcaster Ron MacLean will serve as the parade’s grand marshal.
The parade will be broadcast on CTV Kitchener, Monday at noon.
Waterloo Regional Police issued an advisory Friday warning the public about fraudulent Oktoberfrest tickets, which some people have unwittingly purchased in previous years.
