Thousands of people packed the Biergarten at Plattduetsche Park in Franklin Square this past Saturday for the final weekend of a three-week Oktoberfest run, raising steins of German beer and digging into plates of schnitzel and bratwurst as a live band kept the crowd moving. The celebration, which began at the end of September, closed out with the same mix of music, traditional dancing and food that has defined the event throughout its run.
According to News 12 New York, Plattduetsche Park General Manager Matthew Buck said the event offers German music, traditional dancing and German food, describing the scene of visitors enjoying beer and raising their steins as lively. Reporter Jenna Rae Gaertner noted that Plattduetsche Park hosted one of the region's largest Oktoberfest gatherings, drawing visitors from across Long Island during October.
Ferdinand Huber, a member of the band NY Spitzbuam, which he described as a German American dance band, said Oktoberfest season is one of the busiest times of the year for the group. The band's set was part of what organizers called a season highlight, with the festivities providing a new cultural experience for some attendees while giving others a chance to celebrate their own German heritage.
A Venue Built on 140 Years of Immigrant History
The Oktoberfest crowds gathered at a site with roots stretching back more than a century. Plattduetsche Park traces its origins to 1883, when northern German immigrants in Brooklyn founded the Plattduetsche Volksfest Vereen under the motto “In Unity is Strength,” a mutual benefit society created to assist sick or injured workers, according to Plattduetsche Park.
That same organization's late 19th-century fundraising drives helped establish Brooklyn's German Hospital, which later became Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, as the LI Herald has reported. The society eventually looked beyond Brooklyn, purchasing 10 acres of farmland along Hempstead Turnpike in Franklin Square in 1910 to build a retirement home. The organization laid the cornerstone for the current restaurant and beer hall building in 1939, per Plattduetsche Park's own history.
Eight Acres Anchoring Local German-American Life
Today the property spans eight acres in Franklin Square, encompassing a restaurant, Beer Hall, outdoor Biergarten and Pavilion. The venue serves as the official meeting site for more than two dozen local German-American cultural, athletic and social clubs, Plattduetsche Park notes on its website.
That institutional footprint sits atop a substantial local demographic base. Census Bureau American Community Survey data compiled in late 2025 and compiled by Neilsberg shows roughly 103,800 Nassau County residents claim German ancestry, about 7.5% of the county's population. Neighboring Suffolk County counts more than 171,600 residents of German heritage, over 11% of its population, according to the same Census-derived analysis.
More Than Oktoberfest on the Calendar
Oktoberfest is not the only German heritage event the venue hosts each year. Plattduetsche Park also runs Ompahfest, a one-day September celebration centered on live brass folk music, traditional dress and imported crafts, the park's website states — a gathering the LI Herald has covered as something of a seasonal lead-in to the larger fall festival.
In the kitchen, Executive Chef Thomas Heinrichs oversees dining operations across the park's venues, specializing in classic Bavarian dishes including sauerbraten, kassler rippchen, wiener schnitzel and giant Bavarian pretzels, according to Plattduetsche Park. Restaurant employees told News 12 that visitors can enjoy German food, beer and atmosphere at the venue throughout the year, not just during the three-week Oktoberfest run.
The Franklin Square property also carries forward its original purpose as a home for the community beyond the restaurant grounds. The same parcel acquired by German immigrants in the 1910s houses the Plattduetsche Home Society, an independent non-profit senior living facility founded in the 1920s that continues to operate adjacent to the restaurant and Biergarten, per Plattduetsche Park's club listings.
That century-plus of civic contribution earned formal recognition this year. In February, New York State Senator Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick presented Plattduetsche Park with the New York State Empire Award, the Senate's highest honor for small businesses, citing its nearly century-long role as a community and cultural institution in Franklin Square, according to the New York State Senate.
