Oktoberfest 2020 Canceled In El Cajon Due To Coronavirus

EL CAJON, CA — Oktoberfest 2020 in El Cajon is canceled.

While the coronavirus pandemic knocked out community events through spring and summer, organizers of some fall festivals in California are looking ahead and now canceling their extravaganzas — with the annual Oktoberfest in East County being the latest to fall.

"The GAS (German-American Societies) Board of Directors ... had to make the painful decision that there is no choice but to cancel Oktoberfest in El Cajon for 2020," club officials said, citing COVID-19 concerns as the reason.

"We had been holding out for as long as possible, hoping against long odds that we might be allowed to hold the fest in a different way, but so far, nothing has materialized."

Hosted by the El Cajon-based club, the annual celebration typically ran over two October weekends with an opening-day parade and keg tap, Oktoberfest queen crowning, authentic German food, beer, entertainment and games, along with nearly nonstop chicken-dancing, polkas, waltzes and oom-pah music.

Local organizers are not alone in deciding to nix a Bavarian festival this year as German officials cited COVID-19 in April when pulling the plug on Munich's 220-year, legendary Oktoberfest, the world's largest such event annually drawing 6 million visitors.

"Since Oktoberfest requires a lot of planning, we decided to follow the path the German Oktoberfest has taken, and cancel the celebration for 2020," said officials from the El Cajon club, an organization launched more than 50 years ago with its heritage-bonded founders.

Another popular German fest in the region, the annual OB Oktoberfest, slated this year for Oct. 9-10, is still a go for now, according to the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association, which added that staff is monitoring the situation and will make updates, if necessary.

Octoberfest in El Cajon, however, does join a growing list of celebrations statewide — still months away — announcing cancellations of their large-scale festivals and concerts planned for fall and even winter due to the pandemic. Among the scrapped events: Half Moon Bay's 2020 Art & Pumpkin Festival in the San Francisco Bay Area; Rose Bowl Parade 2021 in Pasadena; the Los Angeles Philharmonic's fall concert series at Walt Disney Concert Hall; "Hamilton" performances in Hollywood (delayed to spring); and Anaheim's Fall Festival and Halloween Parade, a community tradition since 1923.

Meanwhile in El Cajon, the Oktoberfest's organizers now have set their sights on 2021, with the two-weekend festival planned Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, Sept. 24-26 and Oct. 1-3, 2021.

"We’re especially optimistic that whatever needs to happen in the next year will allow us to resume Oktoberfest in 2021," the German-American club officials said. "We can only be hopeful that this pandemic will run its course."

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