The 2026 Oktoberfest at Union Square runs October 9 through 11, and admission is free. The Hickory Downtown Development Association lists it as the 39th annual. The published hours are Friday 5 to 11 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday noon to 5 p.m., with food vendors open from noon on Friday. Those hours make it look like one festival stretched over three days. The music schedule says otherwise. Every Main Stage set starts at 5:15 p.m. or later, and Sunday has no Main Stage at all.
What you see depends on when you walk in. Arrive at 11 a.m. Saturday and you get a smaller street festival with one adult music stage, the KidsFest stage, the crafts, and the food. Arrive at 7 p.m. and you get a concert. Both happen inside the same roughly four city blocks HDDA describes as the festival footprint.
Saturday is two shifts, and they barely overlap
Saturday is the only day when both adult stages run, and even then they share the square for just 90 minutes.
| Saturday, Oct. 10 | CommScope Stage | Main Stage |
|---|---|---|
| 11:15 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. | The Steubenville Tootlers | nothing listed |
| 1:45 – 3:15 p.m. | Karla Causey | nothing listed |
| 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. | Cold Sweat | nothing listed |
| 5:15 – 6:45 p.m. | The Munroze | Dani Kerr |
| 7:15 – 8:45 p.m. | nothing listed | Cordovas |
| 9:15 – 10:45 p.m. | nothing listed | The Deluge |
The gates open at 10 a.m., but the first CommScope set doesn't start until 11:15. That first 75 minutes belongs to the vendors. It's the quietest hour on the square for browsing the craft booths before the Tootlers get going.
The handoff happens at 5:15. The Munroze and Dani Kerr play at the same time, and after 6:45 the CommScope Stage has nothing else listed. From then until 10:45 p.m., the Main Stage is the only adult stage HDDA lists, with Cordovas and then The Deluge. The KidsFest Stage keeps going until 8 p.m., with DJ Daddio from 6 to 8. If you've been camped near the CommScope Stage all afternoon, the evening happens somewhere else on the footprint.
Friday is an evening event with a lunch preview
Food vendors open at noon on Friday, five hours before the official festival start. For anyone who works downtown or can take a long lunch, that's a window to eat at the booths before the evening crowd arrives. The program doesn't list any music or other festival activities during those hours.
The music follows the same order as Saturday, just shorter. The Steubenville Tootlers open the CommScope Stage from 5 to 7 p.m. The Main Stage starts at 7:15 with The Dick and Tammy Show, and Empire Strikes Brass closes from 9:15 to 10:45 p.m. Again, the two stages never play at the same time. The CommScope Stage finishes at 7 and the Main Stage starts 15 minutes later.
Sunday runs on one adult stage and ends at 5
On Sunday, the Main Stage doesn't appear on the schedule at all, and the KidsFest Stage runs from noon to 5. The CommScope Stage has North State Grass from 12:30 to 2 p.m., and the Tootlers close the festival from 2:30 to 5. That makes Sunday the shortest and most compact day of the weekend. It's the one that fits between church, lunch, and a normal Sunday evening.
The Steubenville Tootlers show up every day. Their three sets add up to about six and three-quarter hours on the CommScope Stage. If there's one act that tells you the daytime festival is on, it's them.
The third stage is new, and it runs all weekend
The 2025 festival had two live music stages, according to HDDA's vendor announcement that year. The 2026 materials list three: the Main Stage, the CommScope Stage, and a KidsFest Stage. The KidsFest Stage runs 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, so it covers the daytime festival and the start of each evening:
- DJ Daddio, all three days, including 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday
- Sims Country Cloggers Dance Studio, Saturday 1 to 2 p.m.
- Pitch Perfect, Saturday 2 to 3 p.m.
- The InterACTive Theater with Jef, two Saturday sets and one on Sunday
- Hickory Ballet Performing Arts, Saturday 4 to 5 p.m.
Most of the named KidsFest performers are on Saturday, the same day the CommScope Stage runs from late morning through the afternoon. For a family, Saturday daytime has the most going on at once.
HDDA's pages don't say where the KidsFest area sits within the footprint. The festival map on the site is still the 2024 version. Treat that map as a rough guide and check the posted signs on the day.
The Castle of Cans closes the day the festival opens
The Susan Coleman Oktoberfest food drive, known as the Castle of Cans, is in its 28th year in 2026. Its campaign window runs September 21 through October 9. October 9 is the Friday the festival opens, so the drive ends just as the beer tents go up.
The can-collection registration deadline was September 14, which has passed. Groups can also run a virtual fundraising campaign or a campaign that takes both cans and money. HDDA says $1 provides about seven pounds of food, and this year it's asking for canned fruit and vegetables lower in sugar, sodium, and fat. Schools and businesses with the top collections get partner recognition. New this year is a recognition category for a high school club or organization.
Everything collected goes to eight local organizations: The Corner Table, Ashure Ministry, formerly ECCCM, Exodus Homes, Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry, The Family Care Center, Hickory Soup Kitchen, Salvation Army, and Second Harvest Food Bank Hickory.
The rules that follow the festival's clock, and the one that doesn't
The festival pages say plainly that no pets are allowed. Under HDDA's event policy, alcohol can only be sold or served by beverage vendors the Oktoberfest Committee has approved.
Downtown Hickory's Social District has its own schedule. The City of Hickory allows drinking there from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., only in specially labeled cups bought from establishments within or contiguous to the district, and outside alcohol isn't permitted. Alcohol is also prohibited in Lowes Foods City Park. The City's page doesn't say whether the Social District covers the Oktoberfest footprint or the festival beer tents. The district's 10 p.m. cutoff also comes before the last Main Stage set on both Friday and Saturday. Assume the festival's rules apply inside the festival, and don't bring outside drinks.
Some details weren't published as of late September. We couldn't find a 2026 street-closure notice or an Oktoberfest-specific parking or shuttle plan from the City or HDDA. HDDA's general parking page and downtown public parking map are the best references for now. The only closure notice we found covered the 2023 festival. It said streets around Union Square would close starting Friday, but it gave no street names or times.
Where the two shifts meet the square's own storefronts
The storefronts on Union Square give you somewhere to go between the daytime and evening shifts, especially in the 5 to 7 p.m. stretch when the handoff happens. We couldn't confirm special festival-weekend hours for any of them, so call ahead.
- Notions, 206 Union Square NW
- The Downbeat, 220 Union Square NW, which has been advertising September and October 2026 performances
- Olde Hickory Tap Room, restaurant and brewpub at 222 Union Square NW
- Carolina Crafted Creamery & Sweets, 248 Union Square, for ice cream and baked goods
- Chapter Coffee Co., 262 1st Ave NW, and Crescent Moon Cafe, 256 1st Ave NW, for coffee before the 10 a.m. Saturday opening
- City Walk Brewing & Distilling, 205 Main Ave NE, with a taproom and biergarten, and Cranford Brothers BBQ, a few steps away
A Kilwins may join the square at 252 Union Square. Renovation permits were issued September 11 and 15, but the Hickory Daily Record reported no confirmed opening date.
Over my years in this area, I've found that the details of a place, down to which stage goes quiet at 6:45 on a Saturday, are what make it feel like home. If you're thinking about a home within walking distance of Union Square, or you'd like to know how downtown Hickory's calendar affects life on the surrounding streets, Tim Newton is glad to talk it through over coffee on the square. Let's Connect.
