50 years of family, food and Oktoberfest Zinzinnati
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Oktoberfest Zinzinnati is a family tradition for Ludwig Noll, pictured here in his father's arms. Photo: Courtesy of Ludwig Noll
For Ludwig Noll, Oktoberfest Zinzinnati turning 50 is both a festival milestone and celebration of family history.
Why it matters: Oktoberfest has grown from a street festival in 1976 into the largest Oktoberfest in the U.S. and the largest outside Munich.
- Behind those massive crowds are families like the Nolls, who've spent decades keeping Cincinnati's German traditions alive.
Zoom in: The Mick Noll's food stand has served festivalgoers since the beginning. Ludwig Noll grew up alongside it, working the booth with the generations before him.
What he's saying: Reaching 50 feels "almost surreal," he tells Axios, particularly a decade after his father Mick's death.
- His father was passionate about preserving that history and sharing German culture with Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
- Even today, Noll says the people working the family's Oktoberfest booth are family and friends.
- "It's always been about the same thing — family and food and making people happy."
🥨 Twist of history: That family story mirrors Cincinnati's own.
- German immigrants began arriving here in significant numbers in the 1830s, shaping everything from Over-the-Rhine — named for the canal German settlers called "the Rhine" — to Cincinnati's brewing industry.
- By 1880, the city had 36 breweries producing more than 30 million gallons of beer annually.
Plenty to chew on: The festival has gotten a lot bigger since 1976, now drawing over 800,000 people annually. At a recent Oktoberfest, attendees consumed:
- 🌭 87,542 metts (a German sausage)
- 🥨 23,004 soft pretzels
- 🍰 20,000 cream puffs
- 🥬 3,600 pounds of sauerkraut
- 🧀 702 pounds of Limburger cheese
The heart of it: Noll points to the German word Gemütlichkeit — roughly, the feeling of being together, enjoying good times and good friendship.
- "Oktoberfest is always a perfect representation of that."
If you go: Oktoberfest Zinzinnati runs Sept. 17-20 at Sawyer Point and Yeatman's Cove along the riverfront.
- Hours: 4-10pm Thursday, 11am-11pm Friday, 10am-11pm Saturday, 10am-7pm Sunday.
- Admission is free.