41st Annual Harvard Square Oktoberfest and HONK! Parade

The Harvard Square Business Association is excited to announce the return of the 41st Annual Oktoberfest and totally irrepressible and fabulously madcap HONK! Parade on Sunday, October 13th, 2019. Come be a part of this unique, irreverent and family-friendly annual tradition where musicians and spectators “reclaim the streets for horns, bikes and feet”!

Harvard Square’s Oktoberfest features food from all over the world, arts, crafts, vintage goods, free samples, sidewalk sales and one-of-a-kind items. In addition, Oktoberfest boasts six beer gardens located throughout the festival grounds. This annual celebration of fall features live music, including a Passim stage and an all-HONK! Review on the main stage and honking at four different stages throughout the day. Dancing in the streets is encouraged!

One of the many highlights of the festival is the HONK! Parade which arrives in the Square at approximately 1:00 pm. The HONK! movement now in its thirteenth year has become a global phenomenon.

HONK! Bands featured in past years include:

Artesian Rumble Arkestra (Olympia, WA)
Band Land Brass Band* (Cambridge, MA)
Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble (Montréal, Qué)
Detroit Party Marching Band (Detroit, MI)
Dirty Water Brass Band (Boston, MA)
Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band (Somerville, MA)
Environmental Encroachment (Chicago, IL)
Extraordinary Rendition Band (Providence, RI)
Forward! Marching Band (Madison, WI)
Leftist Marching Band (Portsmouth, NH)
Marcus Santos and aNova Brasil (Somerville, MA)
Minor Mishap Marching Band (Austin, TX)
Musicians Action Group (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
New Creations Brass Band (New Orleans, LA)
Plezi Rara (Brooklyn, NY)
Rara Bel Poze (Boston, MA)
Red Flame Hunters Indians Tribe (New Orleans, LA)
Rise Up! Action Band (Seattle, WA)
Rude Mechanical Orchestra (NYC, NY)
School of HONK (Somerville, MA)
Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society (Somerville, MA)
The Brass Balagan (Burlington, VT)
The Carnival Band (Vancouver, BC)
The Party Band (Lowell, MA)
Unidos do Swing* (São Paulo, Brazil)
Unlawful Assembly* (Twin Cities, MN)
What Cheer? Brigade (Providence, RI)

Oktoberfest in Harvard Square was started in 1978 by the late Frank Cardullo, a Square mover, shaker and owner of the renowned Wursthaus, which served up traditional German food from 1917 until it closed in 1996. The early festivals were in keeping with old world customs. Over the years, the festival has taken on a more discerningly Cambridge vibe to become an Oktoberfest unlike any other.

https://www.harvardsquare.com/events/2019-calendar-events

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