Join us for two full weekends of authentic German celebrations. Oktoberfest in El Cajon, hosted by the German American Societies, is the closest thing to Munich’s Oktoberfest you’ll find in Southern California!
The 2025 event is scheduled to take place Sept. 26-28 & Oct. 3-5. Hours will be Fridays from 4 to 10 p.m., Saturdays from 12 to 10 p.m. and Sundays from 12 to 9 p.m. Here’s the flyer.
Volunteer! Get free entry, food and a drink when you sign up as an Oktoberfest volunteer. Dozens of options are available to suit your schedule.
Enjoy German food such as bratwurst, ox-on-the-spit, potato pancakes, sauerkraut, red cabbage, potato salad, salted pretzels, and a variety of European pastries. Let a great selection of German beers and liquors, water and soft drinks, quench your thirst while you watch and participate in traditional folk dancing, choir recitals, drama routines, stein-holding competitions, and interactive musical entertainment. Games, contests and prizes, a Kid Zone and a variety of shopping booths line the patio for additional all-ages fun.
You don’t need to be German to join the party. Everyone is welcome.
To contact the El Cajon Oktoberfest Organizers directly, please send an email to: OktoberfestinEC@aol.com.
You can also follow these web and social media sites to view the latest updates:
Meet Our Band
Our band, the Guggenbach-Buam, joins us from Baden-Württemberg, Germany. These talented, entertaining musicians dress in traditional clothing and play a variety of German music, just as you would hear in the beer gardens in Bavaria. Enjoy songs such as the chicken dance, polkas and waltzes, and all the famous beer-drinking tunes – new and old! Dance or sing along to some wonderful Oom-pah music!
Raffle Tickets
Raffle tickets are on sale throughout the Fest. Prizes will be drawn for during band breaks, and winners must be present to collect their prizes. A Grand Prize of a flight for two to Germany will be drawn on Oct. 5. You don’t need to be present to win the Grand Prize. Look for the Oktoberfest Königin (Queen) or stop by the stage to get your tickets!
Getting Here
Onsite parking is free but is extremely limited. Nearby parking is available along the street (signs permitting) and via our partners at First Lutheran Church (at Mollison and Merritt). The fee is $10 per vehicle, CARDS ONLY.
Plan ahead and prepare responsibly! Please consider taking a taxi or using a rideshare service to get you to and from Oktoberfest. Carpooling and public transit are also recommended. Plan ahead and prepare responsibly! For your convenience, a drop-off/pick-up area is located at the front entrance.
Onsite parking is free but is extremely limited. Nearby parking can be found along the street (signs permitting) and via our partners at First Lutheran Church (at Mollison and Merritt) where the fee is $10 per vehicle – CARDS ONLY.
Rules to Remember
- Outside food and beverages are not allowed.
- No weapons or pepper spray.
- All bags are subject to search.
- We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.
The History of the Oktoberfest
Four years after Bavaria was elevated to the status of a kingdom, the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, to Princess Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen, took place on Oct. 12, 1810. The official wedding celebrations lasted 5 days and were a great ovation to the ruling house of the young kingdom. Both radiant and popular, celebrations were performed on stage enveloping all of Munich. An enormous festive atmosphere filled the town, including a parade of the marksmen of the National Guard and of the civilian shooting societies, illuminations and music with kettle drums and trumpets, and plenty of eating and drinking.
The Wittelsbachs dynasty used the event to demonstrate their closeness to the people by thanking their subjects, whose patience had been sorely tried through ties with France and the wars that had resulted from expanding territories and administrative reorganization. A great festival as an attempt to establish an identity for the ‘new’ Bavarians, directing their attention to the capital and seat of the king and the Bavarian rulers’ house, came at the perfect time.
The celebrations even then referred to as a “popular festival” in the center of town were concluded on Oct. 17 with a horse race on a meadow outside the town gates. The highest permission for this competition was obtained by, “individuals classified in the Cavalry Division of the National Guard, third class,” under Major Andreas von Dall’Armi. Children in Bavarian national dress paid homage to the Royal family that was present with poems, flowers and fruits of the land. In honors of the bride the festival grounds were called, “Theresens – Wiese”. And today the Oktoberfest venue is still called: “Theresienwiese” – in common Munich parlance, “the Wiesn”, for short. The subsequent horse race was won by the National Guard Cavalryman and hackney coachman Franz Baumgartner, who allegedly proposed this event. The 1810 horse race was meant to revive the famous “scarlet race”, which was last held at the Munich Jacob’s Dult in 1786.
In 2010, Munich held an “Anniversary Celebration for 200 Years of Oktoberfest”, dedicated to the origin and history of the world’s largest folk festival in the southern part of Theresienwiese. Today, Oktoberfest continues to be celebrated in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, welcoming hundreds of thousands of guests annually as the largest funfair in the world. Organizers are careful to always remembering its roots, honor its traditions and welcome new guests along with new tech as the festival continues to advance over time.
The Story of the Pretzel
The pretzel symbol is a rune from the ancient Germanic times – long before there was an alphabet established – and is the sign for life, as it begins thinly, intertwines, gets thicker and flares out into a circle, coming back to a thin end. The spelling with a “P” is English. In Germany, it is spelled with a “B”, so it starts softly, becomes strong with the “z” in the middle and rolls out into the “l”. Bread has often been considered the “staff of life”, and this symbol became the sign for the bakers’ guilds. Just as the horseshoe was the sign of the blacksmith, the pretzel was the sign of the bakery.
GERMAN AMERICAN SOCIETIES OF SAN DIEGO 