KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the first time ever, German heritage is taking over Westport for a four-day Oktoberfest event.

Managing Partner of Beer KC Restaurants James Wesphal said they wanted to bring a little bit of a cultural experience to the neighborhood where Kansas City was first founded.

“It started off as an event, a small event that just a few restaurants in the neighborhood used to host, and the neighborhoods decided to really make it into a neighborhood-wide event,” Wesphal said.

The event starts Thursday with a keg tap at Char Bar.

“Kansas in particular has a lot of history and German heritage, and we’ve got some individuals from those entities joining us tomorrow for the kick-off that we think will add a little more cultural experience to the event,” said Wesphal.

After the keg tap, you can walk around Westport for a “Tasting of the Ten.”

“It’s going to be great. Ten different locations in Westport will have a different style of Oktoberfest beer at their location, and people will be able to come and sample and walk around the streets,” said Wesphal.

The rest of the weekend has activities for the whole family. To see the full schedule of events planned click here.

“We have events on Saturday in particular that are very family friendly: Wiener dog races, German dancing and polka bands,” Wesphal said.

Westport Marketing Manager Tia Simpson said she’s excited for the growth of the event.

“It’s really exciting. We’ve been working on it for a long time, and to just have a lot of cooperation and participation from different restaurants and different players in the area – it’s just going to be a really good atmosphere,” said Simpson.

Friday and Saturday, Pennsylvania Avenue will be shut down. Also Saturday, the event will shut down Westport Road.

The celebration will wrap up Sunday with a “Lederhosen Lap” 5k. You can sign up here.

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