It was the mid-90s and Ruppert Beirne was an attorney on a mission.
He wanted to hold an Oktoberfest celebration to raise funds for scholarships for students seeking a Catholic high school education.
A life-long member of the parish at St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, Beirne approached the pastor presiding at the time to make a move on his idea of holding a parish event.
The pastor said no.
A few years later, that pastor was replaced with a new one and Beirne took up on his quest again—this time, he got the green light.
He is now the chair of the St. Benedict Oktoberfest, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
“When we received a new pastor, he liked the idea, but he was brand new and wanted us to wait,” said Beirne. “We waited until 2005. Now, the event has far surpassed anything that I could have hoped for. It has taken on a life of its own, to be real honest.”
Becoming one of the biggest Oktoberfests on the East Coast
Beirne spent the next 20 years watching as his event grew from three grills and 30 kegs for a day-long affair, to a 300-keg event lasting three days and bringing in between 50,000 to 70,000 attendees (as of 2024), that has raised millions of dollars to fund an expanded scholarship program for Catholic education and the St. Benedict school itself.
“We barely broke even that first year, but we liked it and felt it was a good way to reach out to the community,” he said. “At that point, it was purely a vehicle to raise money for scholarships for parish children to go to Catholic high schools. Slowly, year after year, [the event] grew—almost doubling each year.”
Beirne attributes the success of the event and its long-running growth to a combination of timing and luck.
“We [launched the event] right on the very beginning of the surge for craft beer,” he said. “Our timing was great in that regard because it’s become known as a craft beer festival, in addition to offering German beer. As a result, we kept growing and growing, and all of a sudden, maybe five to seven years ago, because of the tens of thousands of people that were coming through, we had to change a lot.”
More scholarships for students
“Now, the funding not only helps send kids to Catholic high school in the area, but also, we have a St. Benedict Catholic School that we supply with funds they use for financial aid and scholarships for the lower school—the Pre-K through Eighth grade that they have,” Beirne said. “We also support it in other ways, when they might need something done over at the school, we support that as well.”
This year, there’s more beer and wine, more food and more vendors.
“We have expanded our footprint as far as our Christkindlmarkt that we have, the vendor area down Belmont, because we have a lot of returning but also some new vendors as well,” he said. “We added to the children’s area as well. In addition to a lot of the new beers and wines that we offer, we are also trying a non-alcoholic beer and wine.”
Smaller scale, but worth your designated drive
If you are looking for something a little more intimate than sipping a festbier with 70,000 people in lederhosen, here are a few Oktoberfest-type events you can check out.
Want a stein? A pretzel necklace? A festbier? You can have all three for a mere $20 at Triple Crossing’s Oktoberfest Richmond—not to be confused with Richmond Oktoberfest, which is below.
Address: Triple Crossing—Fulton, 5203 Hatcher St.
Hours: Saturday, Sept. 27, noon to 5 p.m.
Contact: triplecrossing.com
Take a trip to Ashland with your DD, and sample a daytime celebratory mélange that includes The Sauerkrauts (12:30 to 3:30 p.m.), a band that plays traditional German music; a rock power trio called The Royal We (5 to 8 p.m.) that sounds like the 90s; sample some beers including an Oktoberfest served in a stein, a Kölsch or a Schwarzbier (Black Lager). There are also brats and sausages provided by The Mayor Meats (3 to 7 p.m.).
Address: Center of the Universe Brewing Co., 11293 Air Park Road, Ashland
Hours: Saturday, Sept. 27: noon to 8 p.m.
Contact: cotubrweing.com
The Veil is doing what they do best with a lager-focused event that spins the traditional German festival on its head with German electronic music, burgers and lots and lots of discounted lagers.
Address: The Veil Brewing Co., 1509B Belleville St.
Hours: Saturday, Oct. 4, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Contact: theveilbrewing.com
Get ready for a Firkken tapping (2:30 p.m.), German beers and German (-style) food. Compete in a stein holding competition for the chance to win the esteem of your Oktoberfest compatriots.
Address: Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, 820 Sanctuary Trail Dr.
Hours: Saturday, Oct. 4: noon to 10 p.m.
Contact: hardywood.com
The 55th Annual Richmond Oktoberfest will be heading back to the Old Dominion Building at the Richmond Raceway Complex.
Address: 600 E. Laburnum Ave.
Hours: Friday, Oct. 17: 6 to 10 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 18: 3 to 10 p.m.
Contact: richmondoktoberfestinc.com