Cold temperatures and a late-season snowfall did little to dampen the crowd at the annual Bockfest celebration at August Schell Brewing Company.

Shuttle vans transported attendees from downtown New Ulm to the brewery throughout the morning.

Organizers had salted the grounds early to address ice left by overnight freezing rain, and additional portable restrooms were positioned across the site.

More than 250 volunteers helped staff the event, according to Meg Koebel of Madison Lake, who assisted with volunteer coordination.

The Bockfest Boys take the stage to open the 2026 Bockfest

“There were over 250 names on this list,” Koebel said.

Volunteers received free admission, a sweatshirt and three drink tickets. Koebel said she and fellow volunteer Jodee Williams of Coon Rapids have worked both Bockfest and Oktoberfest for multiple years.

Held annually on the first Saturday in March, Bockfest marks the seasonal release of Schell’s Bock, a caramel lager brewed at the historic brewery.

A popular tradition at the event involves fire tenders inserting a heated poker into glasses of bock beer, caramelizing the drink and creating a smoky foam. The practice is also available for root beer.

Another longtime festival rule allows outside food on the grounds only if it is worn around the neck, leading to a variety of pretzel and snack necklaces among attendees each year.

Will Sutherland holds up the bock, a cutout of a goat, after finding it under a pile of logs Saturday at Bockfest at August Schell Brewery. Sutherland was the first to locate a bock in this year's Bock Hunt, a scavenger hunt held across the festival grounds and surrounding woods. Photo by Amy Zents

The festival has historically drawn crowds in a wide range of conditions, from temperatures in the 50s and 60s to as low as four degrees below zero, when beer froze and attendees huddled close to bonfires for warmth.

Saturday’s snowfall added another chapter to the event’s unpredictable weather history.

Visitors traveled from across Minnesota and neighboring states to attend.

Krista Mason of Cottage Grove and Cheryl Phillippi of Oakdale were attending their fourth consecutive Bockfest and stayed overnight at the Best Western to avoid icy roads.

John and Jen Dorn of Arlington, South Dakota, said Saturday marked their fifth straight year at the festival. The couple rents the same Airbnb in Sleepy Eye each year for both Bockfest and Oktoberfest.

Cameron Vander of Madison, Wisconsin collected at least 350 plastic cups for recycling during Bockfest. Vander said she did not want to force the brewery staff to clean up.

Others were attending for the first time, including Jaden and Lisa Gehrking of Rochester.

Music played throughout the day across two stages. The Bockfest Boys opened the main stage at 11 a.m. with German-style festival music, polka and crowd sing-alongs. The Blue Ringers followed in the afternoon with classic rock and danceable bar-band favorites, while DJ Strudel Boy performed in the woods below Schell’s.

The Bock Hunt, a scavenger hunt in which participants search the brewery grounds and nearby woods for wooden goat cutouts, also drew participants throughout the day.

Will Sutherland of White Bear Lake was the first to locate one.

“I was trying to find the clues and I just stumbled my way onto it,” Sutherland said. He said the cutout was buried under a pile of logs and sticks covered in snow.

The Bockfest crowd gathers for the wooden goat burning to bring the festival to a close

Longtime attendees Mark Fritsche and Mike Manske said they have come to Bockfest for about 15 years, missing only the year it was canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We like Schell’s, we like beer,” Fritsche said. “This is one of the best.”

The day concluded with another Bockfest tradition, the ceremonial burning of a wooden goat as crowds gathered around the fire.