NEWPORT, Ky. — People getting ready to head to Northern Kentucky for some beer and bratwursts might be feeling a little disappointed. The city of Newport’s annual Oktoberfest celebration has been canceled over staffing concerns.
After a year off due to the pandemic, people like Kayla Stoker were starting to get excited, until they saw news of the cancellation.
“I was hoping to get to go this year,” Stoker said. “I was a little upset. I was kind of ready for food. And definitely to see everyone just be happy. And maybe win some prizes, maybe some people dancing.”
The yearly German celebration, attended by thousands of people in years past, was scheduled for Sept. 24 through Sept. 26.
But Cold iron Enterprises, the company that organizes the event, announced the event was canceled.
“Cold iron really strives to put on the best events in the area. We want them to be the best. There’s no other option. They have to be the best. And we found out that Newport Oktoberfest wasn’t going to be the best. We had a lot of food vendors that had a lot of trouble staffing, some bands that dropped out, and we figured it wasn’t going to be the best it could be, so we’re going to cancel it,” said event manager David Wertheim. “You could walk up and down the street right now and see plenty of businesses that have had to close or change their hours, just because they don’t have enough staff, and that definitely carried over here to the festival side of things. All year we’ve had trouble finding food vendors that have been able to staff their booths. And this was no exception. And it kind of just caught up to us for this event.”
The festival’s food booths are typically staffed by local restaurant employees, while the alcohol booths are staffed by volunteers.
It’s an event that’s rich in tradition in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area. Cincinnati was able to hold its Oktoberfest last week.
The Newport festival normally generates thousands of dollars in revenue.
“It’s a big deal for Newport, but really the bigger deal isn’t the money, it’s the tradition. People know what that event is. They know what Oktoberfest means to this area, and that’s really what’s bummed us out, is not being able to put it on, and continue the tradition this year,” Wertheim said.
Wertheim said he hopes the event will be back bigger and better than ever next year.
