Wurst Festival and Oktoberfest will both be held this year, but with some modifications due to COVID.
The statements below were recently sent out to businesses in the Amana Colonies. I am sharing this with you to help keep you up to date on changes that will be involved. Specific questions about any event are best directed to the Amana Colonies Visitor Center. 319- 622-7622.
Zuber’s is still open and we are doing our best to keep current with COVID guidelines and help you have a relaxing stay!
2020 Wurst Festival and Oktoberfest Update
Wurst Festival-August 29th
Wurst Festival will not see sausage makers, entertainment, a tent, and a large number of people at the Market Barn area. We are just not capable of doing this and maintaining social distancing for our vendors and visitors. We also experienced difficulty obtaining 4-6 different sausage vendors.
The plan for this year is to promote sausages and special sausage entrees in each of our 4 restaurants. Each has agreed to offer something special and we will advertise this including their special sausage offerings so our visitors can decide where they would like to go. Along with this, we expect that the Amana Meat Shop will have a brat/sausage stand street side.
Dean Wiener and Wurst University will not be holding classes this year.
The Dachshund Derby will take place as originally scheduled at the Market Barn at 5pm. That evening Millstream Brewing will have a live band and brats on the grill.
Oktoberfest-October 2nd-4th
The good news is that Oktoberfest will take place. We will need to limit the number of people on the grounds and in the Festhalle to achieve social distancing requirements. The Festhalle will only hold 230 people at one time. To allow as many people as possible and to generate the amount of funds required to pay for the bands, we will need to sell 230 reserved seats for each performance. Patrons will be buying a ticket for a particular band session with 6 total sessions over Friday and Saturday. The tent area will be free admission and will have music from the Festhalle played over the speakers but there will also be a maximum capacity on the grounds and tent at any one time.
There will not be any events or food available on Sunday on the festival grounds at this point.
The Tapping of the First Keg will take place on Friday but only those with a ticket to the Festhalle will be allowed into the building for the event, there will be no standing room.
There will be a parade on Saturday morning; we are working on a theme. Suggestions for the theme are greatly appreciated.
The Oktoberfest games will not take place this year.
We will not be running a shuttle bus from the RV Park unless we can find enough sponsors to pay for the service.
