A live school assembly · Waterloo Region
Oktoberfest Assembly
Fifty minutes, the whole school in your gym. Live piano, accordion and trumpet, two animated co-hosts on the big screen, and a reason your students will finally understand why the tents go up downtown every fall.
JK to Gr 6
Two shows the same day: $700 + HST. Setup takes about 90 minutes before the show. Cheques payable to Jamie Mahn.
The idea
Your city used to be called Berlin
Kitchener was Berlin until 1916. The families who founded it brought their language, their food and their music, and the city still throws a party about it every October. Most students have no idea. By the end of this assembly they do, because they've shouted "BERLIN!" back at the stage, sung in German, and learned the dances on their feet.
It's not a lecture about Oktoberfest. It's the music, played live, with the whole school taking part. Jamie plays piano, accordion and trumpet. On the big screen, two animated co-hosts, Onkel Hans in his lederhosen and Tante Frieda in her dirndl, talk with Jamie, dance, and teach the students the steps.
Jamie ran an Oktoberfest school show in Waterloo Region about twenty years ago. For 2026 it has been rebuilt from the ground up with animation and a big screen.
The rundown
How the fifty minutes run
Participating inside the first minute
The accordion opens at full volume and everyone is clapping on two and four before anyone has explained a thing.
Berlin becomes Kitchener
Onkel Hans and Tante Frieda walk the students through how the city got its name, lost it, and kept the music either way. The students shout the old name back.
Everybody sings
A German folk song taught line by line from the stage. No sheet music, no rehearsal, nothing for your staff to prepare.
The dances, taught from the screen
Tante Frieda and Onkel Hans show the steps. The gym learns them in rows in about four minutes. Teachers who join in are the best part.
The Chicken Dance finale
Several times through, faster every time. The last pass is genuinely too fast. That's the point, and it's what they tell their parents about.
Built for school
School-safe on purpose
- Written for a school gym from the first note. The grown-up songs stayed home; what's left is the music, the history and the dances.
- Written for JK to Grade 6, with the youngest students in mind for the dances.
- One performer, one setup. Nothing for your staff to run.
- Jamie brings the piano, accordion, trumpet and a sound system sized for a gym.
Optional surprise
Uncle Hans walks in live
A staff volunteer wears the Uncle Hans costume and walks into the gym during the show. The students lose their minds. Jamie brings the costume. You pick the volunteer, and nobody tells the students.
Jamie brings
- Piano, accordion and trumpet
- A sound system sized for a gym
- The big-screen show with Onkel Hans and Tante Frieda
- The Uncle Hans costume, if you want the surprise
- Setup and teardown. About 90 minutes before, less after.
Your school provides
- The gym or multi-purpose room, with floor space for students to sit
- A projector and screen for the co-hosts
- Standard wall power near the stage end
- One table
- A staff member who knows where the light switches are
Waterloo Region schools booked the Oktoberfest Assembly for October 2026.
One assembly, the whole school, done before the next bell.
Plus HST. Everything included. $700 + HST for two shows the same day.
Send a date and a backup. Jamie confirms within a day.
Request an Oktoberfest date
Morning and afternoon slots across the Oktoberfest weeks in October. Send a preferred date and a backup; your date goes on hold and Jamie confirms within 24 hours.