Here We Goat Again
If You Go
Bockfest
March 4–6
Bockfest Hall, 1811 Vine St
Programs during the weekend include historic tours, live music, yoga, food, and beer.
Find details at www.bockfest.com.
One of the last events before the pandemic shutdown in 2020 was Bockfest. The parade was a snowy, goat-filled revel that gave way to a weekend of events celebrating Cincinnati’s beer history.
“(The parade) has taken on the spirit of the krewes in New Orleans where the same groups come back year after year and put their own spin on entires,” says says Steve Hampton, executive director of the Brewery District Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation. “Some keep it simple and some go big. Some go all in on monks and goat while other have fun with puns.”
Last year’s Bockfest was a more subdued affair.
“You don’t quite get the full effect of goats, monks, and other craziness through a Zoom chat!” says Steve Hampton, executive director of the Brewery District Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation. “Bockfest is about celebrating, and there are so many people that head out to Bockfest each year and meet up. Seeing old friends and making new friends will be especially special this year.”
“Where else but Over-the-Rhine can you borrow bales of straw in a pinch for
your beer festival from your neighboring monks?”
While the Sausage Queen and the baby goats get a lot of attention, Bockfest offers much more. The weekend begins with a parade, ends with a petting zoo, and in between has a pig roast, historic tours, German bands, and even a race.
“We love our friends at the Flying Pig Marathon, who put on a fantastic Bockfest 5K on Saturday,” says Hampton. “But Bockfest is really built for those who want to ‘run’ the .05K Run on Sunday. It’s a grueling 164 feet, with all the bells and whistles of a real run like bottle opener medals for finishers. It is a really fun end to the weekend seeing the triumph of the human spirit!”
Steve Hampton talks about the Bockfest 5K.
Though Bockfest has become one of the city’s marquee events –while maintaining its authentic weirdness – the festival stays true to its scrappy, community-oriented roots.
Hampton reminisces about one early Bockfest.
“We had a tent set up in a gravel parking lot, and it had snowed before being set up. As the heaters kicked onm the snow melted and created a bunch of puddles and slush,” says Hampton. “This was as the festival was starting so we didn’t have a lot of options. I was talking to Brother Tim, one of the Franciscans next door to Bockfest Hall, and he offered up the bales of straw they had leftover from their Christmas live Nativity. Where else but Over-the-Rhine can you borrow bales of straw in a pinch for your beer festival from your neighboring monks?”
Though Hampton is a longtime organizer of Bockfest, he also has a deeply personal connection to the event. In an only-in-Cincinnati meet cut, he met his wife at Bockfest.
“She volunteered for one of our historic brewery tours,” Hampton says, “And we first met 30 feet underground in an old lagering cellar.”