Where:
Harvard Square
31 Brattle St
Cambridge, MA 02138
Admission:
FREE
Categories:
Alcohol, Art, Date Idea, Festivals & Fairs, Food, Music
Event website:
http://harvardsquare.com/events/40th-annual-harvard-square-oktoberfest-and-honk-parade
The Harvard Square Business Association is excited to announce the return of the 40th Annual Oktoberfest and totally irrepressible and fabulously madcap HONK! Parade on Sunday, October 7th, 2018. 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.
This year, 27 HONK! Bands from around the country, and as far away as British Columbia and Brazil, will create a moving spectacle from Davis Square to Harvard Square. Spectators will be treated to a horn-tooting, hand-clapping, foot-stomping, hip-swinging, mind-blowing marvel and are welcomed to join the back of the parade as it makes its way to the Square.
The HONK! Band lineup includes:
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.
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