Oktoberfest is the largest beer festival in the world. Understandably, several other smaller beer festivals patterned after it are held all over Germany and the rest of the world. The second largest beer festival in Germany is the Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuggart. The smaller beer festivals are held throughout the year in bigger German cities with some of them extending much later into the night than its original.
German beer festivals are also considered carnivals and festivals for the people. The largest Oktoberfest outside Germany takes place in Canada in the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario during the Canadian Thanksgiving. This is because of the large ethnic German population found in these two cities.