Glendale Heights Oktoberfest, Glendale Heights

Each year, guests fill Camera Park to celebrate German culture at Glendale Heights Oktoberfest. The festival’s spacious tent ensures a full weekend of merriment, whether the sky rains, shines, or finally spills its Big Dipper. As live bands lay down rhythms with their oompahs, waitresses clad in dirndl skirts serve up authentic German cuisine overseen by Chef Wolfgang, in addition to Austrian and German pastries and frosty beers imported from Weihenstephan in Munich, and Allgäuer Brauhaus in Allgäu, Bavaria, Germany.

Aside from the festival’s palate-pleasing foods, revelers can work off hearty meals by dancing from noon to midnight and erupting into a round of applause after inspiring performances by lederhosen-clad accordion players. Youngsters can also enjoy magicians, jugglers, stilt walkers and everyone can shop an array of souvenirs, such as t-shirts, novelties, hats, steins, jewelry, pins, and German flags.