55th Oktoberfest gets underway in downtown Kitchener with traditional keg tapping

The keg tapping ceremony at the 55th annual Oktoberfest in Kitchener launched the festive Thanksgiving long weekend on Friday.

There will also be a Thanksgiving Day parade Monday morning.

Hundreds of people are filling fest halls and beer tents around the community, listening to Bavarian music.

On Friday, the president of the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest, Allan Cayenne, took part in the keg tapping ceremony as hundreds of onlookers cheered him on by chanting "spank that spigot!".

Cayenne said it's the second-largest Oktoberfest gathering in the world, with visitors from all over the globe.

"We've had people from Germany ironically come to our Oktoberfest," he said.

"I've had some [visitors from Germany] say that they prefer ours just because of the intimate nature of some of the festivals you can go to and just the variety of what we have to offer. Germany is a fantastic celebration and I think it all comes down to your taste and how you want to celebrate. I think here we offer something for everyone. So I think that makes a difference in terms of how people experience the festival because they can find the the way that fits them best and then they just have the time of their lives."

Cayenne said a lot of people put Oktoberfest at the centre of their Thanksgiving celebrations.

"They want to bring everyone out to the parade. It's a great family celebration. To others, it's about reuniting with people. So many people come back to the region for Thanksgiving and they get to see each other at all the different Oktoberfest events that are going out," he said.

"It's a celebration of their culture and their traditions based on the strong Bavarian roots of Kitchener-Waterloo. There's a lot of people where that really calls to their heritage and it's meaningful to them to see that culture celebrated and then for the rest of the community to join in."

This year will mark the 55th year of Oktoberfest celebrations in Kitchener.