Oktoberfest to focus on reaching younger generation, new president says

K-W Oktoberfest will need to inspire a younger, more diverse generation to get involved if the annual festival is going to thrive, new president Margo Jones says.

The makeup of Waterloo region has changed dramatically from the first days of the festival in 1969, Jones said in an interview with CBC K-W's The Morning Edition host Craig Norris. As such, the festival needs to adapt and evolve.

• New Miss Oktoberfest Vanessa Buttinger says annual festival a family tradition
• 26 facts about Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest
• PHOTOS:PM Justin Trudeau taps the keg at K-W Oktoberfest

"Our demographic is changing," Jones said. "If you go down to King Street here, you'll see the difference in the culture that's downtown. You go to Conestoga Mall, it's like, you look out and you go, 'What part of the world am I in?' So, having a Bavarian festival, we have to make sure we include all those people and they feel that they are included."

As the event nears its 50thanniversary, Oktoberfest has to be more than just a Bavarian festival, she said. It needs to be something everyone can embrace.

While in the past the festival may have been viewed as simply beer drinking and polka music, Jones said they've made the effort to have family and cultural events.

"We're trying to encompass so many more people in the festival," she said.

Get more youth involved

But it's the younger generation they really want to encourage to come out to events and perhaps even volunteer.

It's part of the reason they will start a new marketing strategy aimed at the younger generation who don't get information about events from traditional sources and instead, stick to social media and their friends.

"We have to give them the experience they're looking for. Your experience at the festival is probably different than my son's festival and/or my grandchildren," Jones said.

She noted the area's festhallens are also seeing a change in the demographic of people who attend events or volunteer. The group is getting older, so Oktoberfest needs to support the halls in attracting a younger audience.

"We're looking at younger people getting involved and wanting to be involved," she said.