20th Annual Bockfest
| What: | Celebrate Cincinnati’s brewing heritage and the coming of spring in Over-the-Rhine. |
| When: | March 2-4 |
| Cost: | Free (with exceptions) |
Are you ready for Cincinnati’s 20th Bockfest? The annual celebration of beer, Over-the-Rhine’s brewing history and spring begins on March 2nd at Arnold’s Bar & Grill with a parade and runs through March 4th. Bockfest features, obviously, lots of beer and food but also includes live entertainment, walking tours and much more.
The parade begins at Cincinnati’s oldest saloon, Arnold’s, at 5:00 p.m. led by a goat pulling a keg of bock beer and the reigning Sausage Queen and ends at Bockfest Hall. Following the parade at Bockfest Hall will be the blessing of the bock beer ceremony and tapping a ceremonial keg.
Bockfest Hall, located in Christian Moerlein Event Space, at 1619 Moore St., is open all weekend and features live entertainment, food, historic brewery tours, a homebrew competition and lots of beer. The event also includes a number of other participating venues in Over-the-Rhine and the Central Business district. There’s no fee to enter Bockfest Hall, but some booths may charge for certain items.
Cincinnati’s Bockfest is the oldest and largest in the United States, and is a celebration of Over-the-Rhine’s rich German-American heritage and brewing history, as well as a celebration of the coming of spring. For more details on Bockfest, check out the official website at Bockfest.com. CityBeat put together a detailed PDF guide to this year’s Bockfest, which can be found here. Cincinnati’s Bockfest recurs annually every first weekend in March.
A shuttle bus runs a continuous loop around the location, which means parking should be easy. For a map of the shuttle and parade, as well as a list of other participating venues, see the CityBeat guide.
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