Video: Running of the Wieners at Oktoberfest Zinzinnati 2024
Wiener dogs race to the finish line at the annual Running of the Wieners at Oktoberfest Zinzinnati on Friday.
Oktoberfest Zinzinnati is touted as the largest Oktoberfest celebration in the United States, but a new ranking says it’s not even Ohio’s best.
The Cincinnati festival fell in USA TODAY’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards rankings compared to last year, coming in at No. 10 among the top Oktoberfests in the country. The Queen City ranked No. 8 in 2024.
Oktoberfest Zinzinnati fell behind Big Bear Lake’s Oktoberfest and Schmidt’s Columbus Oktoberfest, which came in at No. 9 and No. 8, respectively. Columbus wasn’t the only Ohio city to have an Oktoberfest rank higher than Cincinnati’s, as Cleveland’s Oktoberfest was No. 3.
Zeeco Oktoberfest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, claimed the No. 1 spot for the second straight year.
Attracting over 700,000 visitors to downtown Cincinnati each year, Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, which honors the area’s German heritage, has delivered German food, entertainment and lots (and lots) of beer since its debut in 1976. This year’s festival runs Sept. 18-21 at Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove. Last year, the festival broke attendance records with 808,300 people celebrating.
Selections for USA TODAY’s 10Best rankings are nominated by a panel of industry experts, vetted by 10Best editors and then voted on by the public.
Best Oktoberfests, according to USA TODAY 10Best
- Zeeco Oktoberfest Tulsa (Tulsa, Oklahoma).
- Reading Liederkranz Oktoberfest (Reading, Pennsylvania).
- Cleveland Oktoberfest (Cleveland, Ohio).
- Delaware Saengerbund Oktoberfest (Newark, Delaware).
- Oktoberfest Fredericksburg (Fredericksburg, Texas).
- Oktoberfest USA (La Crosse, Wisconsin).
- New Ulm Oktoberfest (New Ulm, Minnesota).
- Schmidt’s Columbus Oktoberfest (Columbus, Ohio).
- Big Bear Lake Oktoberfest (Big Bear Lake, California).
- Oktoberfest Zinzinnati (Cincinnati, Ohio).
USA TODAY is owned by The Enquirer’s parent company, Gannett.
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