CULLMAN, Ala. – Cullman Oktoberfest has named Edgar Veigl its 2026 Bürgermeister. Veigl will serve as the festival’s official ambassador during its four-day run at Depot Park, Oct. 1-4.
“Bürgermeister” is German for “mayor.” Each year, Cullman Oktoberfest selects one community member to carry the festival’s German heritage in public, appearing at Opening Ceremonies, moving through the biergartens and vendor rows and welcoming visitors from across the region.
Veigl is a descendant of the original German settlers who followed Colonel John G. Cullmann to north Alabama, and preserving that heritage has been a lifelong pursuit. As former chairman of Friends of Frankweiler, he helped deepen the relationship between Cullman and its German sister city, and his family still hosts visiting delegations and former German exchange students in their home.
His preservation work is visible around town. Veigl has restored historic homes and buildings throughout the community, an interest that traces back to age 9, when he became an apprentice to his father learning traditional building techniques, woodworking, forestry and farming. People who knew his father, known around Cullman as “Willie,” describe Edgar as carrying forward the same craftsmanship and integrity that earned Willie his reputation.
Veigl has been nominated for Bürgermeister repeatedly over the years without ever seeking the recognition.
“My family has been in Cullman County a long time, and this town has given us a great deal,” Veigl said. “I have spent most of my life trying to hold onto what the settlers built here, whether that meant a house worth saving or a friendship with Frankweiler worth keeping. Being asked to represent that at Oktoberfest is humbling. I intend to spend those four days doing what I already enjoy, which is talking with people about where Cullman came from.”
Cullman Oktoberfest drew approximately 75,000 people over three days in 2025. The 2026 festival expands to four days for the first time, adding Sunday, Oct. 4, and opens Thursday, Oct. 1, with Opening Ceremonies at 6 p.m.
“Oktoberfest is the weekend Cullman shows the rest of the state who we are,” Cullman Mayor Woody Jacobs said. “It fills our downtown, our restaurants and our hotels, and it reminds our own residents that our German heritage is not a theme we put on once a year. It is our history. The Bürgermeister is the person who carries that through the whole festival, and Edgar has been carrying it here for decades already.”
Ben Harrison, a past Bürgermeister, member of the Cullman Oktoberfest Committee, and director of Cullman Regional Airport, said the role calls for a specific kind of person.
“A good Bürgermeister is not the loudest person in the biergarten,” Harrison said. “It is somebody people already trust, somebody who can talk to a visitor from Frankweiler and a first-time visitor from Birmingham in the same afternoon and make both of them feel welcome. When I served, I learned pretty quickly that most of the job is listening. Edgar has been doing that his entire life. He has been nominated year after year because people around here already treat him like the Bürgermeister. This makes it official.”
Veigl will appear throughout the festival weekend, including at Opening Ceremonies on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 6 p.m.
Festival information and the full schedule are available at www.cullmanoktoberfestival.com.
Follow the festival at www.facebook.com/cullmanoktoberfest and www.instagram.com/cullmanoktoberfest.
