From Munich to Cincy: Oktoberfest Zinzinnati

Oktoberfest 2020 will be a quiet affair, relatively speaking, so let’s instead fill up our steins and learn some Zinzinnati history.

Cincinnati hosted its first Oktoberfest the third weekend in September, 1976, modeled after the original celebration in Munich. Some 166 years prior, German settlers coined the area “Zinzinnati” after seeing how the Miami and Erie Canals reminded them of the Rhine River back home. The name stuck.

Today, Zinzinnati is America’s largest authentic Oktoberfest, and the world’s second largest. Over 500,000 descended upon Cincinnati last year to eat, drink, sing, sport lederhosen and watch the Running of the Wieners.

– Kristie Coggins, The 100 Companies