Overview The Beer and Brats 5K is a Saturday-evening Oktoberfest race through Jacksonville's San Marco neighborhood that ends in San Marco Square with free beer and brats for every runner, and the organizers ask people to run it in dirndls and lederhosen. There is a 5K and a one-mile run/walk, both starting in the square at 5 p.m. in mid-October, and the race is part of the Jacksonville Grand Prix series. 1st Place Sports, the Jacksonville running store and race company, puts it on from its San Marco store and runs it alongside the neighborhood's Oktoberfest. On site Every entrant gets a race shirt, a custom-designed beer mug, a beer and a brat. For 2026 Tepeyolot Cerveceria brewed a beer just for the race and poured it at several spots around the square, with oom-pah music playing. The start and finish sit in the square itself, so the post-race party happens where the race begins, and the title sponsor's booth stands in that same start and finish area. Audience It is a costume race as much as a timed one: the race page walks entrants through the Tracht dress code, down to how to pronounce dirndl. The one-mile option brings in walkers alongside the 5K field. 1st Place Sports promotes it to its own email list, which it puts at more than 75,000 subscribers, and on its Jacksonville race calendar. Brand presence There is one title sponsor, whose name is added to the race name. Its logo goes on the start and finish banners, the race backdrop, the back of every participant and volunteer T-shirt, the race website for at least two months beforehand, eight or more promotional emails and the confirmation email each runner gets race week. The sponsor can put a flyer or item in every goodie bag, gets a 10-by-10 booth at the start and finish, and receives five complimentary entries.