Starting this year, the Concordia Club will be only the second-largest of the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest festhalls.
A new hall will open for six nights of the festival at the LOT42 building on Ardelt Avenue, with space for more than 5,000 revelers. On other nights, that venue will be used for events like the Miss Oktoberfest gala and Women of the Year Awards.
According to a press release issued by Oktoberfest organizers, the new venue will be designed to emulate the world’s largest Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, in everything from its entertainment to its food.
Organizers say the large size of the venue will allow them to be more creative with what they incorporate.
With 11 acres of total space, LOT42 aims to bring other organizations together, ones who may not otherwise have a place to participate.
“Our festhallen numbers have dwindled,” says Margo Jones, the president of Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest. “We remember festhalls in Waterloo, there were some in Kitchener, and those are no longer there.”
Though Oktoberfest still brings around 700,000 people out, a new venue should help get numbers back up.
This year’s Oktoberfest, which marks the 50th anniversary of the festival, runs from Oct. 5-13.
