Hickory Oktoberfest canceled for 2nd year in a row over COVID-19 concerns

HICKORY, N.C. — This year’s Hickory Oktoberfest has been canceled, officials announced Monday.

A post on the festival’s Facebook page said the Hickory Downtown Development Association and the Oktoberfest Committee made the decision to cancel the event after reviewing the state virus guidelines for hosting outdoor events.

The festival, which celebrates the city’s German heritage, was scheduled for Oct. 8, 9 and 10.

Event officials said Catawba County’s low vaccination also rate played a role in the cancellation.

“This decision has been made out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of our community due to the continued spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19, and rising area hospitalizations. We had hoped to be in a different place by this fall season but, with the low vaccination rate in Catawba County, we cannot risk hosting a super-spreader event that could put our health providers and hospitals in a more difficult situation,” the Facebook post read.

This is the second year in a row the event has been canceled due to the pandemic.

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