Overview Mountain View Oktoberfest takes over Castro Street in downtown Mountain View for one weekend every October. The Mountain View Chamber of Commerce presents it and Megalith produces it. Admission is free. What began as a joint project between Steins Beer Garden, Tied House Brewery and the Chamber now fills several blocks of the city's main restaurant street, right up against City Hall and the Performing Arts Center. Caltrain and VTA stop a few blocks away. On site Everything centers on a 200-foot Festzelt lined with long communal tables. Beer goes into real glass steins and boots, and the festival says no other Oktoberfest has offered them every single year. German, Austrian and American beers are on tap, with local wines for everyone else. Food trucks and a German menu from The German Guys cover sausages, schnitzel, pretzels and strudel. The rest of the street belongs to vendor booths and a makers market. Kids get a zone of their own. Audience The crowd comes from across the Bay Area and leans toward affluent Silicon Valley families. Average household income is over $175,000, and the audience skews slightly male. Plenty of guests show up in dirndls and lederhosen, and whole families stay for the afternoon. The Chamber expects around 15,000 people over the weekend. Organizers say it has been higher. Talent and Influencers Two bands carry the music. Deutscher MusikVerein, also known as the SF German Band, plays the afternoon set, and BlowMusik! takes the evening with brass-heavy Oktoberfest standards. Between songs the stage runs the contests: stein holding, yodeling, the Bavarian attire contest, beer belly, a kids pretzel-eating round and a chicken dance-off. Track record Attendance has grown from about 4,000 in the first year to well over 10,000. It paused only for the pandemic. The festival moved onto Castro Street recently and has added another block since. Metro Silicon Valley and the Mountain View Voice back it as media partners. Local hotels, restaurants and the Sobrato Organization also appear on the partner wall. Brand presence Sponsors can buy anything from a logo on the posters to the title of the whole event. Mid-level partners get booth space on Castro Street and a banner inside the beer tent. They also land on the logo wall by the main stage. Upper tiers can claim product exclusivity or co-sponsor the main stage, makers market or kids zone. Stage title rights put a brand across the full stage front. For something custom, Megalith will build a VIP lounge or a branded photo wall. It has also let sponsors design and run their own contest.