By Jeff Sherman OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer Published Sep 17, 2014 at 10:17 AM

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On Oct. 3-5, the Marcus Center Grounds and Pere Marquette Park will transform Downtown Milwaukee into a traditional Bavarian Oktoberfest celebration activating both sides of the Milwaukee River with beer gardens, music and food.

It’s almost amazing that Milwaukee doesn’t have a huge scale Summerfest-sized Oktoberfest.  We have several smaller, really good ones.  But, don't you think we deserve a big blowout Oktoberfest?  Nonetheless, this event (that OnMilwaukee.com proudly sponsors) is a big leap forward and should help put Milwaukee on the Oktoberfest map.

To get you ready, Too Much Metal designed an official MKE Oktoberfest shirt for this year’s combined celebration. The shirt's proceeds will help subsidize the cost of running the event to help keep festivities free. Shirts are available for purchase through Shoplocal on OnMilwaukee.com.

It’s a sweet T, and one you need in your MKE collection.

Other details regarding Oktoberfest?  The Marcus Center Grounds and Pere Marquette festivities will held on Friday, Oct. 3 and Saturday, Oct. 4 from noon to 11 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 5 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

An authentic festival tent and beer garden will be erected in the park.  Hofbräu Oktoberfest Beer, the original beer of King Ludwig’s Royal Brewery, will be featured, along with traditional Bavarian foods including giant fresh baked pretzels, bratwurst, wieners and pork sandwiches.

The Marcus Center Grounds will feature food and beverage by Sazama’s Fine Catering at the Sazama’s River’s Edge Patio. Dinner specials and concession menu is available at mkeoktoberfest.com/food.

Keg tapping will take place at Pere Marquette Park on Friday, Oct. 3 and at the Marcus Center Grounds on Saturday, Oct. 4.  Music and entertainment also will take place throughout the festival weekend at both locations.

The line up for the Marcus Center’s Peck Pavilion includes The Brewhaus Polka Kings, The Mike Schneider Band, The Freistadt Alte Kameraden Band, Talisman, The Squeezettes, Polka Floyd, and Harvest Polka Mass with Father Mike Hammer. The Glockenspiel will perform every two hours.

The line up for Pere Marquette includes Blaskapelle, Polka Floyd, Sigmund Snopek, Thomas Dietrich, Austrian Express, and Ferd Buchel, Tony Gorenc, and Jim Thull.

Full dates and times of musical entertainment are available at mkeoktoberfest.com/music.

The event is free, but if you’re younger than 21 you need to be with an adult.  

Jeff Sherman OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer

A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.

He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.

Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.  He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.  

He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.

He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.