Bear Mountain Oktoberfest

Big time fan of the Bear Mountain Oktoberfest. 2015 was my third year going, we usually make the trip up from Long Island. However, this year, we were extremely disappointed. When we heard it was moving to a new location, we figured they had outgrown their britches for the better. I assumed it would mean they’d have more vendors and more seating, but alas, I was deceived.
Traditional food. GONE. Scenic views. GONE. Long lines. SOMEHOW INCREASED.
The lines were absurd. As soon as you got your beer, you’d have to get back online to refill said beer. The food, which was always amazing, was replaced with cheap hamburgers. And it was pretty much set up in a parking lot.
If they bring it back to the old location, a may go back because it’s worth the trip. If it’s still at Anthony Wayne Recreation Area, do yourself a favor and stay home.

What a cluster f*ck!!! We went on 10÷11÷15 and it was PACKED like sardines. In order to buy food and drinks you need to buy tickets. 30+ minutes later then we had to fight our way through the tightly packed lines (with a double stroller btw)… Once we made out way to the back of the food line which was out by the road I purposely times myself for fun… 45 min just to get to the food tent… Then another 20+ minutes zig zagging in the tent to reach the food… Just the «German» food, NOT INCLUDING PRETZELS or BEER!
The location was way too tight of a space to hold all those people… Here’s an idea to the ppl who put on this event… Put it back at Bear Mountain State Park and if you run out of parking spots, have people park at the Anthony Wayne Rec Area and bus them into Bear Mnt!!! Never again will I return if it’s at AWRA.

3.5 Stars!
Well, this is our first time visiting the Bear Mountain Oktoberfest so we can’t really compare it with the previous year’s event. We were here on a cold Sunday afternoon. After reading a lot of the bad reviews here on Unilocal,we thought the event is going to be really crowded but well, it wasn’t that crowded when we were there. The line to get the food & beers weren’t that bad. Maybe it was a cold day, not that many people wants to hang around at an outdoor event.
It’s expensive but we had a great time with our friend here eating, having some beers, while listening to some live music. The parking wasn’t bad. We didn’t have to look for a parking space. The parking lot is huge! Plenty of empty space when we were there.
Wish they sell more beers other than just the Warsteiner. Well, we don’t think we’ll be coming back again this year to this event but next year, maybe we will…

What a great festival for those who love waiting in line.
What was your favorite part? Was it waiting in the line for tickets? Waiting in line for beer? Or what about waiting in line for the only food option? How about how the food was cold? Or the bit where half the menu items weren’t available? Ooh, how about the polka band that played «Sweet Home Alabama», because that makes sense?
This used to be a fun time out of the city but somewhere along the way the organizers got greedy and lazy. Never again.

all the other poor reviews pretty much already said it — NOT what it used to be, when it was up on the lake. Used to love coming here — not anymore. This was definitely the last time.
As mentioned, the ticket system is ridiculous. Also, once you’ve bought your tickets, you kind of feel like to you have to stay and use them, so you’re stuck in line for the next three hours (one hour for beer, two for food).
The only star here goes to the human race — never seen so many people + beer with no staff in one location and no fights breaking out. People were amazingly patient.
Will NOT return.

We used to come every year when it was at the lake. But we won’t be coming back again.
The lines were outrageous, they would wrap around the main tent, interesct with each other, and somehow merge. It was line anarchy.
All the fun and beauty that it used to have is gone, all the awesome vendors were impossible to reach.
My husband an I bought $ 40 worth of tickets to enjoy the day but when we walked around the race track trying to find one line that didn’t seem to have a 2 hour wait, we gave up. We couldn’t return our tickets, and people were offering us $ 10 for all of them. Decided to just go home and will have to start a new tradition with family and friends at hunter mountain.
So incredibly disappointed, this used to be a family tradition but we won’t be coming back.

WORST festival I have ever been to.
Upon arrival, 30+ minute line for non refundable tickets so you have to estimate exactly what you will be eating and drinking for the entire day. Either buy more than you need or risk waiting in the line again.
Beer lines between ran 30 – 45 minutes. Food line was literally 1 hour & 55 minutes to get some luke warm wurst in a hotdog bun. The only reason anyone waits in these lines is because it’s already been paid for via ticket purchase. Nobody happy at this festival!!! Try explaining to your kid why it will be 2 hours until you can them something to eat or drink!
There are some vendors and a band but who has time with all the line waiting you have to do???
Now imagine if the servers actually had to make change instead of collecting tickets???
I’ll never be back — not even if it was all free. There is NO excuse for the lines.
PRO TIP: smart people brought their own food and beer and had a free line-​free day tailgating inside the festival.

AVOID IT IF YOU CAN! NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE PAST YEARS.
We attended this past Sunday. It was simply not what it used to be. All the changes made this year indicate that money control and earnings were the main purpose, and unfortunately the spirit and beautiful experience (from all angles — scenery, vendor service, food, beers, comfort, etc) has been lost, sacrificed.
Unless they go back to what it used to be, I don’t plan to ever attend or recommend this festival to anyone. Quite the opposite, I would discourage anyone from going. No longer worth it.
I am not sure who had the «brilliant» idea of organizing the event the way they did this year. There were HUGE (45 mins) lines to get tickets. These tickets are then used to pay for your consumption. The food line was 1 hour and 15 mins long AT LEAST. The food was NOT GOOD. No giant pretzels, no giant hot dogs, and crappy crappy cheeseburgers. Then you have to get on another ½hr line to get your beer. The beer is also not as good as last year. Not german at all.
The huge lines were very discouraging when wanting to get refills or more food. We spent most of our time there standing in line. Not the way I want to enjoy a festival.
There is not as much shade for you to enjoy your ½hr long beer under, so under the sun it is, cooking yourself away. There is a tent under which you can sit but there are not enough tables, it is muddy and the view is some old concrete stadium sitting (in the sun). The enclosed area has nothing to offer from a scenery perspective as the other location did. No playground or activity for children/​families as the other location. No beautiful hiking, NOTHING other than long lines and crappy food.
Two thumbs down.

Heard great things about the festival from people who went in previous years. This year the lines were ridiculous. 20 min in line for the tickets. 20 min in line for first beer. 2 HOURS in line for food. 45 min in line for second beer. And after all that I spent so much money on tickets I didn’t use because I didn’t want to wait in line anymore. Plus there’s nothing to look at (no mountains, no lake) while you are in line at the new location.
Unless they change it back to the old location or promise to increase staff (double it at least) for next year, I will not be going back.
I wish I read the reviews before going, I would not have gone, I recommend save time and money and go for a hike, buy some brews and drink them at home sans lines.

Complete awful, here’s why:
1) LONG LINES: Took me one hour to wait in line and get food, tickets and beer. I spent half the time waiting in line. It was so long people started selling their food and drink tickets.
2) OK beer & food: Not only do you have to wait FOREVER for food and libations, all the items are really basic and not worth the money.
3) CROWDS, TOO MANY KIDS CRYING: The event folks are not good at crowd control and everybody there had kids with them crying, running around and yelling. Better off going to a bar where you can avoid the family crowd.

I went to the Bear Mountain Oktoberfest for the 1^st time this past weekend, so I can only talk about my experience at the Anthony Wayne location.
First off, the trails around here are weak. There aren’t many trail signs. In addition, the peak elevation doesn’t seem to be that high.
In regards to the actual festival… I recommend going early. My friend and I went early to hike and by the time we got back down it was around 11:45 and they were already letting people in.
The place is a ticket system ($ 2/​ticket). Refill of steins are $ 12. They have a small selection of draft beers (pilsners, oktoberfests, wheat beers, dunkels, etc…) The refill prices are worth it, especially if you buy a stein there… I believe the steins they sell are 1L because i brought my own ¾ L stein and the one they were selling looks bigger.
The food was mediocre at best. Wasn’t impressed with the spaetzle. The spread is interesting… and they do have vendors on the outside area near the beers while the german food is located in the middle underneath a tent.
Early on, it’s easy to get beer and food because there are no lines. However, by noon, the place picks up and gets busy.

This festival used to be really great. I’ve been going for the past 5 years and always had a good time. Usually I go around 3 times a year and it never got old. The lake provided a great view and there was plenty of room for activities. It did get crowded at times but I felt that it added to the atmosphere.
I was very disappointed when I heard the festival was moving to a new location. I was about to write off the event once I saw the new flyer. However, I decided to give it a shot anyway. The organizers did a great job with the original so I had high expectations and thought it could only get better.
The only positive part of the new festival is that parking is much closer to the event space. I do remember the overflow parking at the lake was a decent walk away from the event but, hey you’re walking through a nice state park.
The new venue is nothing special. Just a fenced off field with a tent in the middle. There are fewer vendors this time. The stage is still there and the band was still good. However it was very underwhelming and disappointing overall.
The worst part is that there is a ticketing system for food and drinks. This means you have to stand in a ticket line, correctly estimate how many tickets you think you will need/​have time to spend, purchase the tickets and then stand in a new line to purchase the goods. On top of that the ticket lines did not have any organization, just a large group of people standing in front of multiple ticket windows. A simple rope would have been an easy way to organize the line and cut down on people trying to rush the windows.
Unfortunately I can’t see myself returning to the festival in its current state. It is a shame that it was changed. I couldn’t find any official explanation about why the changes happened. The flyer mentions that the event got too big but no other explanation about the ticketing system.
The original event was truly special and I understand that the organizers want to accommodate as many people as possible but I think it would have been better to manage the situation at the original location instead of diluting the event and making it available to more people.
Maybe limit the event to a certain number of people with tickets purchased ahead of time. Or sell parking passes online at a higher price and only allow those cars access to the lot.

It’s not as great by any means as it used to be, but it’s not the apocalypse people are describing it to be. Yes it’s under a huge tent in a field. Not next to the lake.
The food and vendors didn’t seem that much different than the original venue.
The only obnoxious part was the ticket system and the food line could have been 2x as fast.

Take heed of the recent reviews if you are planning on going to the 2015 Oktoberfest. It is NOT the same as previous years.
I came to Oktoberfest last year and it was one of the best events I’ve been to — tons of vendors and breweries surrounded by the beautiful lakes, trees and hiking trails of Bear Mountain. When I read on the website that it had «outgrown Bear Mountain» and moved to Anthony Wayne Recreation Area nearby, I thought it was going to be even bigger and better.
NOPE, it has been moved to a fenced in patch of concrete and dirt the size of a race track. First you have to drive and walk through a massive parking lot filled with sharp rocks that will rough up your tires and feet. If you survive that, you now have to wait in line to buy tickets to exchange for food and beer, which is completely pointless and inconvenient. There were maybe 10 random vendors and 5 beer stands and all the food is served under a giant dark tent surrounded by dirty grass. Long tedious lines were everywhere with no view to make it bearable: the view is the parking lot, and some old broken down stadium stands. I left within 15 minutes of arriving.
I don’t know how the planners thought moving here was even remotely a good idea. The previous years may have been crowded with more limited parking, but it was infinitely better than this. This was a waste of a drive up and $ 8 for parking. The 2015 Oktoberfest is a total fail and it needs to move back to Bear Mountain if it wants people to come back.

This review is strictly for the 2015 Octoberfest. They moved the venue from the main park to an outer area, I think it is a very small abandoned stadium and it is not the same. There is no water, boats, hiking, the zoo, all the beauty of bear mountain… This year It felt like you are drinking beer in a parking lot.
It is such a shame, I love last years event, but this new venue is terrible. I don’t plan to go back unless they move it back, we stayed barely an hour at this years event.
I complained to a few vendors and park officials and heard at least one other person say the same.

Now taking place at Anthony Wayne Recreational Area, the fest lacks a certain intimacy that the old site had, if you could consider being in the woods intimate. The new location sprawls out more, so this will allow for more people once things are in full swing, but being that it just started this weekend, the size of the place just made things seem empty.
Also new this year is the need to purchase tickets to purchase food. Upon entry, there is a booth to purchase these tickets ($ 2 per ticket) and around the fest are various other booths, selling beers and brats, among other things, but you cannot use cash at any of these booths, the tickets are the only currency they accept. Purchasing tickets wouldn’t be so terrible if you could return unused tickets at the end of the day, but tickets are non-​refundable. Plan out exactly what you want carefully, or find yourself waiting in line at the ticket booth a second time or going home with tickets that will serve you no purpose unless you save them for another day. Plan on waiting in line at least twice, the first time to purchase tickets, the second time when you actually want to purchase something with those tickets.
A band was present, a huge beer tent is where everyone is expected to congregate, and vendors selling different sorts of items are scattered around the outskirts. I’m hoping this gets better as more people realize the Oktoberfest moved from Bear Mountain to here, but right now, it doesn’t look promising.

Group of girlfriends took a boat ride to Oktoberfest in Bear Mountain in 2013 and we had a blast! Beautiful Fall day filled with laughs, beer, food and peaceful nature! We made it our annual Oktoberfest so we all gather together in 2014 for another trip for more fun! I’ve recommended Bear Mountain Oktoberfest to friends and everyone loved it! If you love beer, German food & nature you should go!!!

I wanted to go on a day road trip to take photos of Bear Mountain fall foliage. To entice my friends along I mentioned there was an Oktoberfest going on but we had to leave early in the morning.
We were excited to try something outside of our routine, and were actually shocked at the number of people also wanting to try something different. It was as if everyone in the Hudson Valley wanted beer. Although we arrived as the festival started at noon, the line into the parking lot was almost a mile long probably from both directions.
Oktoberfest got more and more filled as the day went on. The first round or two of beer was manageable, but after that, all the beer lines were about 20 minutes long. No wonder everyone brought their own huge beer steins to fill (larger, cheaper and why not get one for each hand?). We are doing that the next time we come.
The crowd definitely reminded me of a weekend night in Hoboken fratboy-​land, without the yahoos and cat fights. Girls were waiting in line at the guys rest rooms.
What made up for all the lines were the stunning fall foliage, clouds and sun on the lake. Everyone was clicking photos and sending them which was probably why the cell towers were overloaded and barely functioned at all.
We skipped the food lines that were longer than at Disneyland, and headed up to the glorious mountaintop for stunning views all the way to Manhattan. Then after a long traffic jam of cars on the parkway trying to get to the roundabout and into the front entrance of the park, we got to West Point and ate without a wait.
Bear Mountain Oktoberfest was a fun festival and worth the hassle, but probably not every year, so everyone please stay home in 2015 ;)

I’ve been coming here for years (actually decades now) and there’s a reason why I love celebrating Oktoberfest in Bear Mountain
The atmosphere is fantastic. It’s very laid back, fun and family friendly. There’s plenty of cool local kiosks that set up shop here every year and there’s always something cool to buy. The selection of nuts and candies for sale here is always solid. I’m not sure if the overabundance of native American shops really reflects the German/​Oktoberfest feel, but it doesn’t detract from the experience.
The view here is fabulous and it’s always nice to take a little walk around Hessian lake if you’re looking to get a few minutes of peace and quiet from the hustle and bustle. This place gets very crowded quickly and if you want to get a decent parking spot (which you need to pay a park fee of $ 8 for) — you’d better get here pretty early.
My only gripe is that the actual German food is average at best. The bratwurst and knockwurst (for example) are all mediocre and is obviously churned out quickly for mass consumption. But the star here is the abundance of beer and definitely buy a (or bring back your old) giant steins so you can qualify for the beer refill price which is pretty good.
I’ll be back next year, and the year after … and after.

Awesome festival!
What’s awesome:
–Beer
–Pretzels bigger the your head
–Beer
–Beautiful scenery
–Beer
–Live Music
–Beer
I could not think of a better venue (other than Munich, Germany) than Bear Mountain, to have an Octoberfest! The fall scenery is absolutely stunning! The area that the park is in, has a pond next to it and is surrounded by tree covered mountains.
If you like German beer this is the place for you and if you like massive amounts of beer your in for a treat. Make sure you get one of those huge one liter mugs to fill with a beer of your choice. I had a few of the König Ludwig Dunkle, which is a nice darker German beer, but the Warsteiner Octoberfest beer was also pretty good.
They did have beer from other breweries (that I would consider semi-​craft beer) like Brooklyn Brewery and I think I saw a Magic Hat beer, but don’t quote me on that.
The food isn’t that great… It’s more about production than anything else, so don’t expect anything spectacular. However, the giant Pretzels are definitely worth it!
The live music is what you expect from an Octoberfest, German polka type music. After a few liters of beer, I kind of got into it, especially when the played Sweet Caroline.
It’s definitely a cool spot to check out. I know some people that will go every weekend, but I think once a year is enough for me.