October is hereand with it, Oktoberfest has come to the Tower District.
Locals by the hundreds gathered to the festival for a common cause — beer, wine, food and a good time.
Fresno’s Oktoberfest is an annual festival in which dozens of breweries and wineries gather for a day of sampling along with food and live music.
Bill Keebler, the director of the Tower District Marketing Committee, said the festival continues to grow as the biggest microbrewing festival in the Valley and gets continuous support from local breweries.
“It’s a great festive atmosphere,” Keebler said. “There is over 100 to 150 more people than the previous year.”
Jacob Moraga, a local vendor for the Tioga-Sequoia Craft Brewery, said the result of continued growth in the festival is Fresno’s up-and-coming beer culture.
“It’s a great thing for Fresno. You can tell just by looking at how many people came,” Moraga said.
Many vendors and beer-samplers alike enjoyed the relaxed, friendly vibes that the festival had to offer.
“There’s just lots of cool people, everyone gets along, and it’s a good way for people to find common ground,” said Andrew Gray, local vendor for Deschutes beer based in Bend, Oregon.
“I came to help out and saw such great selections of beer, great food and great music,” said Kaci Spracklen, a vendor for Fresno’s Full Circle Brewery.
“We saw a sign down Tower and thought we’d come by,” said Fresno local Jason Tirstan. “It’s a nice, cool setup, and the venders are really friendly.”
“You meet a lot of people and get to know them within the community,” said Michael Avila, a vendor for Trumer Pils which is based in Austria.
Lauren Zanutto, a local vendor and Oktoberfest veteran, believes the event is significant and crowned the festival as “the coolest event in Fresno.”
“It’s such a great community event with a great turnout. We need more of these fests,” Zanutto said.
