The L.A. Zoo is trading its old adults-only beer bash for something the whole family can enjoy this weekend, as Zootoberfest makes its debut Saturday and Sunday in Griffith Park. The two-day celebration runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, folded right into regular zoo hours so visitors don't need a separate ticket to join the fun.
According to NBC Los Angeles, the new fall event includes dance-ready oompah music, German-inspired food, animal talks, keeper presentations and lawn games, plus a braid bar for anyone looking to get festival-ready. Zootoberfest is included with standard zoo admission, though food and drinks — including mega pretzels, root beer floats and beer for guests 21 and older — will cost extra. The event is officially sponsored by USC Credit Union and is a new family-friendly Oktoberfest held during daytime hours, according to the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, which notes the daytime format lets general admission ticket holders and members attend without buying anything extra.
A Shift From the Zoo's Beer-Soaked Past
Zootoberfest represents a notable pivot for the Griffith Park institution, which in 2015 hosted its fifth annual Brew at the Zoo, a 21-and-up summer evening festival featuring more than 50 local craft breweries, food stands and live music stages spread across zoo grounds, as the Los Angeles Times reported. That older event was a nighttime beer festival; Zootoberfest instead keeps things in broad daylight and open to all ages.
The new festival is just the opening act of a packed autumn and winter lineup at the zoo. Up next is the after-hours puzzle event Zoo Quest: Dress Code on October 10, followed by Boo at the L.A. Zoo on October 24, October 25, October 31 and November 1 — which features pumpkins for animals to gnaw on, per NBC Los Angeles. The season wraps with L.A. Zoo Lights: Animals Aglow starting November 20, according to the zoo's own events calendar.
Bigger Pricing and Governance Backdrop
Zootoberfest's debut comes as the zoo navigates rising costs for visitors. The Los Angeles City Council's Arts, Parks, Libraries, and Community Enrichment Committee voted in August to approve a $2 general admission increase, pushing adult tickets to $29 and child tickets to $24, as FOX 11 Los Angeles reported. That proposal follows a $5 hike the city enacted in 2025 to help close municipal budget shortfalls.
The city owns the zoo, and city employees maintain it. The city filed a 2024 lawsuit against its longtime fundraising partner, the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, over control of a $50 million endowment fund after their operating agreement ended, according to the Los Angeles Times. GLAZA had managed fundraising and special event production for the zoo since 1963.
Griffith Park's Deeper Roots
The 133-acre campus where Zootoberfest is unfolding opened in November 1966, replacing the original 1912 Griffith Park Zoo. The current facility spans those 133 acres and is home to roughly 1,600 animals across more than 270 species, drawing over 1.5 million visitors a year, according to Eventbrite.
Even as it juggles ticket hikes and legal disputes, the zoo continues investing in infrastructure and conservation. It's building a clean-energy grid resiliency project with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, including a solar carport with EV charging stations in the visitor parking lot, per the zoo's own materials. On August 18 and August 27, 2026, zoo conservation keepers released 653 endangered frogs into the San Gabriel Mountains, with nearly one-third of the released amphibians bred inside the zoo's newly operational headstarting facility.
Part of a National Zoo Trend
The L.A. Zoo's inaugural version puts its own family-first spin on an Oktoberfest-style format.
