Local News
Festmaster to be named earlier for Oktoberfest
The lederhosen season in La Crosse will start earlier this year.
Oktoberfest is moving the Festmaster’s Ball ahead a month, to the end of August, to promote the fall festival and spread out the main Oktoberfest events.
The fest operations manager, Courtney Daniels, says an earlier date for the ball will avoid the competition with downtown crowds that occurs during Oktoberfest.
“This has been a long time coming where it would just make sense to have that Festmaster introduced before the rest of the royal family so that he can welcome each person to the family and then really spend the rest of the four day festival celebrating with everyone else,” Daniels said.
At recent Oktoberfests, the outgoing Festmaster has presided over the Torchlight Parade and the tapping of the Golden Keg, while the new Festmaster has had to stay out of sight until being introduced on the Friday night of the fest.
