The Space Needle has been standing over Seattle since the 1962 World’s Fair. Leavenworth’s Oktoberfest didn’t show up for another 36 years — the town’s first one didn’t happen until 1998, added on top of a festival calendar that already had three decades of history behind it.
This year it isn’t a single weekend, either. It’s three: October 2–3, October 9–10, and October 16–17, 2026, each with its own lineup, its own headliner flown in from Europe, and its own reason to come back.
Psst — we made you a West Coast Adventure Map. Nearly 1,900 of our favorite spots, already pinned, ready to load into Google Maps in two clicks — grab it here.
It’s three weekends, not one
Every weekend runs the same basic hours — Fridays 6 PM to midnight, Saturdays noon to midnight at the Festhalle, with the Bierzelt tent and the Gazebo Stage in Front Street Park wrapping up a little earlier, around 10 or 11 PM. Saturday mornings open with a Festzug parade through downtown at 11:45, and the first keg gets tapped at Front Street Park at 2 PM…