Eat, Drink and Be Glücklich: Harvest Haus Returns!

Vancouver’s largest Oktoberfest event brings food, merriment and plenty of beer to downtown.

At last year’s inaugural Harvest Haus—spanning a single weekend in October—an estimated 4,500 revellers crowded into an enormous tent next to Queen Elizabeth Theatre and pretended they were in Munich. There were long communal tables, there were sausages and schnitzel and sauerkraut and other staple German foodstuffs, there was music (and well-meaning but off-key singing from the assembled masses), and, of course, there was beer—rivers of it. (Wine, too.)The event was such a (ca)rousing success, Wet Ape Productions and the Social Concierge have brought it back in expanded form: in essence, the largest, most unrestrained Oktoberfest brouhaha the city has yet seen. A larger tent and an increased number of seatings (now over two weekends: Oct. 1-3 and 9-11) mean more than 10,000 Germans and Germans-for-a-day will have the chance to partake of European beers and German wines, dance to a Bavarian brass oompah band on a sawdust-covered dance floor, and complement their liquid refreshment with edibles from Michelin-starred chef Stefan Hartmann (of Gastown’s acclaimed Bauhaus) and local vendors.Tickets for each four-hour seating go on sale today (Sept. 1) at Harvesthaus.com, from $25 for general afternoon seating to $275 for a premium König Paket, which includes two VIP seatings, a gold-plated stein, lederhosen or a dirndl, and more. Das ist gut! Harvest HausOct. 1-3 and 9-11, various timesQueen Elizabeth Plaza (W. Georgia & Hamilton)More info: Harvesthaus.com