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OktoberfestHays is now accepting vendor registrations for the upcoming regional celebration on Friday and Saturday, September 29 and 30. Registration is online at oktoberfesthays.com.
The celebration which commemorates the Volga German heritage of our region's hardy early settlers will coincide with both Hays High’s Homecoming on Friday night and FHSU’s Homecoming parade and 7 p.m. game on Saturday.
Oktoberfest 2023 will once again feature the “World’s Largest Bierock,” prepared by Phil Kuhn and his team, and sponsored by Lewis Automotive Group of Hays.
“There is such great enthusiasm surrounding the ‘World’s Largest Bierock’, and this year it will be even larger,” said Kuhn. Bierocks, whether large or small, are a crowd favorite at Oktoberfest, with thousands consumed down at the park each year, and many taken home and frozen for a later meal.
New at this year’s Oktoberfest is the Fest Market operating 9 a.m.-7 p.m. on Friday.
The Fest Market is a large tent (pictured above) on the Oktoberfest grounds that will provide ten banquet-table sized booths for commercial businesses looking to reach an estimated 7,000 fest goers. OktoberfestHays vendor committee chair Tom Bird says, “the Fest Market booths can sell anything from jeans to jewelry and blouses to bagels. I think it will be a great addition, especially for businesses that typically are not our traditional vendors.”
Two vendors already secured are Everlasting Links offering permanent jewelry and Second Wind IV, ready to hydrate and energize Oktoberfest-goers with vitamin injections and IV drips.