KITCHENER — Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest is facing a crisis, its executive director says.

"We need to make some changes, and we need to make them fairly quickly," said Alfred Lowrick.

Faced with financial losses, declining sponsorships, and a sense that the festival — looking ahead to its 52nd season — was stuck in the past, the not-for-profit organization that runs the event commissioned a consultant last year to conduct a comprehensive review.

"Are we at a crisis situation? Yes, and we knew that going in," Lowrick said. Now, with the report in hand, organizers recognize they've really only got a year or two to turn things around.

It's a blunt prognosis for an event that's defined the region for more than half a century. But Lowrick knows he doesn't have time to mince words.

"It definitely is a call to action," he said. Recognizing the event's survival is at stake, regional and municipal governments and the regional tourism marketing organization all supported the review. "Our municipal leaders have taken this very seriously."

The event remains a key date on the calendar, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors and injecting an estimated $21 million into the local economy every fall. Yet its parent organization lost $216,000 last year, building on a troubling trend that saw losses of $150,000 in 2018, and $112,000 in 2017.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said he credits the board with taking a difficult look in the mirror.

"I think there's a place, very much so, for this festival going forward," he said. "It would be a big loss to our community if it didn't move forward."

Lowrick said Oktoberfest is eyeing a shift to a more family-friendly festival that celebrates the region's Germanic roots while better reflecting the diversity that's come to represent the area. He likened one possible approach to Ottawa's Bluesfest, which originally focused on blues music but has come to present headlining acts from many genres.

An appeal to a younger demographic could parallel a desire to make the downtown cores a focus of activities — more and more people are calling the cores home, and light rail makes getting around convenient.

"We're seeing the same people at the festhalls on a regular basis, and that wasn't really representative of the community," Lowrick said. More and more, beer is taking a back seat. Existing festhalls will still remain strong venues, Lowrick predicted, but new activities such as the Bavarian village stretching along King Street in Kitchener were well-received.

Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky said his city has long supported Oktoberfest, hosting prelaunch events and the popular barrel races. Additional events there could attract more people and benefit uptown businesses.

"Oktoberfest has put us on the map internationally," he said. "This is the time to say 'How can we help out?' "

Lowrick is hopeful that more sponsors will step forward, perhaps taking on responsibility for events that are proving too unwieldy and costly for Oktoberfest staff and volunteers to manage; the Tour de Hans bike race, for example, was dropped last year for that reason.

Organizers are also keen to further modernize and transition the Miss Oktoberfest role into more of a community ambassador position.

"I think the community has an opportunity here to make this festival great again, and we're doing everything possible in our control to help," Lowrick said. "It's up to the community to decide if they want K-W Oktoberfest to continue."

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