OAKLAND — An expanded Oaktoberfest will be happening Oct. 1 in the Dimond District, complete with four stages, a family friendly root beer garden, and dozens of beer makers hawking their brew.

Performers like LaVay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers will join rock, rap, rhythm and blues, and soul artists on the bill and there will be a performance by the Skyline High School marching band and color guard. A jazz group from Berkeley High School and a fourth-grade rock group from Redwood Day School called “The Survivors” will play Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots covers.

“As a music festival the lineup is really dynamic,” Candi Martinez-Carthen said. “We have a really wonderful Oakland flavored lineup of music.”

Oaktoberfest is the Dimond District’s annual fundraising event with the money raised going toward the Business Improvement District. The district pays for five-day-a-week graffiti and trash removal, streetscape improvements, public art and smaller events like Art in the Street.

While entry to the festival is free, patrons pay to taste the many beers and eat the food available.

“We’ve been blessed to have a really safe and festive and enjoyable day in the district,” Oaktoberfest cofounder Daniel Swafford said. “There are unique activities going on and it’s been able to bring out a very mixed Oakland crowd that is representative of the city.”

Oaktoberfest is an excuse to bring out the lederhosen and beer steins to celebrate the famous German holiday and eat garlic fries and drink beer.

Some of the breweries that are participating in the event include Faction Brewing of Alameda, Lagunitas Brewing of Petaluma, Altamont Beer Works of Livermore, OBC Brewing Company of Oakland and many, many more. There are dozens of brewers represented at the event and there’s a brewing contest and a cadre of homebrewers offering their concoctions for festivalgoers to try.

“What do you think of when you want to be at a community festival?” Swafford asked. “You want a representation of what’s unique about the city and the neighborhood. It really takes on the personality of our city and the personality of the Dimond.”

Swafford said the Dimond District used to be a resort destination for Germans in the Bay Area and it has a history of neighborhood beer gardens before Prohibition.

The festival will be held from 11 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, at MacArthur Boulevard and Fruitvale Avenue. Admission is free. More information and beer tickets packages can be found at www.oaktoberfest.org.