LIFESTYLE

Weekend event digest: Oktoberfest, pumpkins and all things fall

Oct 3, 2024, 6:00 PM | Updated: Oct 7, 2024, 11:13 am

Photo: Oktoberfest in Washington....

Oktoberfest in Washington. (Photo: @yimmy149 via Flickr Creative Commons)

(Photo: @yimmy149 via Flickr Creative Commons)

The weekend is here and so is spooky season! Looks like we are in for a wet start to the weekend, but that shouldn’t dampen your plans.

I want to start with an event sent to me by a listener:

It’s the 43rd annual OysterFest in Shelton. Saturday and Sunday there will be shucking competitions, plenty of seafood (and other tasty treats), mini golf, touch tanks and plenty more. There will be folks camping up on-site as well for those looking for a weekend full of oysters. I was told that Sunday is family day, children 17 and under admitted free and there will be discounted tickets for active duty military on Sunday as well. Get more details and tickets on OysterFest’s website

It’s not the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, it’s the 20th annual Great Pumpkin Beer Festival. This is going down Friday and Saturday at the Seattle Center and tickets are required. There will be 80 types of Pumpkin Beer on Tap, a costume contest, a fortune teller and lots more. Get tickets and details on Elysian Brewing’s website.

Other lifestyle news: Lost 1936 Seattle film saved by local composer takes festival circuit by storm

Oktoberfest in in Puyallup, Leavenworth

There’s another Oktoberfest this weekend, this time down at the Washington State Fairgrounds. All your favorite food and beers will be there as well as Hammerschlagen, weiner dog races and a Bier-Lympics. Oktoberfest is going on all weekend long, get tickets and details on Washington State Fair Event Center’s website.

Oktoberfest begins in Leavenworth this weekend as well. Celebrations will be going on the next three weekends. Get details on Leavenworth’s website.

A big addition to the Waterfront in Seattle is finally here! The Overlook Walk opens to the public at 4:30 p.m. Friday and to celebrate there will be food, music and more entertainment. Come see what this new bridge has to offer and experience a change to downtown Seattle. There will be firepits, so you’ll be able to keep warm while enjoying the views.

Saturday is the Fife Harvest Fest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free and there will be plenty of things for you to do with the kids, including bounce houses, carnival games, a tractor maze, petting zoo, hay rides and tons more. There will be free corn on the cob from the Fife City Council as well as live music and magicians. For the adults, there will be ax throwing and a mechanical bull to ride, as well as plenty of vendors to support. Get more details on the City of Fife’s website.

More fun: Senior VP of popular trading card game speaks on finding your magic community

Get into the Halloween spirit with the Halloween Pet Parade at Volunteer Park. You and your four-legged friends can show off your costumes and compete for prizes while enjoying live music, crafts, vendors and food trucks. This is going down on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and details can be found on Volunteer Park Trust’s website.

Sunday at the Seattle Center it’s CroatiaFest as the Festal program continues. This event is free to attend and will highlight areas of Croatian culture such as food, music and dancing, and you can even get help with passports, visas and other official government documents from the Croatian Consulate. Get more details on the Seattle Center’s website.

These are just some of the fun things going on this weekend as celebrations of fall begin. As always if you know of even more cool things going on in the area, let me know.

Paul Holden produces the Seattle weekend events calendar for KIRO Newsradio and a weekly story for MyNorthwest. He also appears regularly on KIRO Newsradio’s “Seattle’s Morning News.” If you know of even more cool things going on in the area, let him know at PaulH@kiroradio.com.

Associated Press

1 officer killed and 3 wounded in a firefight with a suspect in Lakewood, Colorado

LAKEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — An officer was killed and three others were wounded during a firefight in a Denver suburb Thursday evening with a man who was fatally shot by police, according to law enforcement. The Lakewood officers had responded to a call about a suspicious person attempting to get on a public bus, police […]

1 hour ago

Mike Bourcier and his wife Jenifer hold No Data Center signs Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Mason, Mich....

Associated Press

Data centers took a beating in the midterm elections. A reckoning may be ahead for tech giants

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — After a campaign season filled with outrage against data centers, the midterm elections ushered in a wave of Democrats pledging to clamp down on the energy-hungry behemoths. A tougher regulatory environment for artificial intelligence giants and data center developers is expected to follow, even if President Donald Trump — perhaps the […]

2 hours ago

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at the Center for American Progress (CAP) post election forum, T...

Associated Press

Republicans rammed through Supreme Court nominees. Now Democrats will have the votes to stop them

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump led a transformation of the Supreme Court that ushered in a conservative supermajority but soon he will confront an emboldened Democratic-led Senate that is preparing to play hardball on his judicial nominations. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is likely to return as majority leader next year, promised in […]

2 hours ago

A photo of Sandra Birchmore is displayed during a Stronger Together Standout gathering, where the g...

Associated Press

Closing arguments expected in trial of ex-cop accused of killing Sandra Birchmore

BOSTON (AP) — Closing arguments are expected Friday in the trial of a former Massachusetts police officer accused of killing a pregnant woman to keep her from revealing that they had been in a sexual relationship that began when she was 15. Federal prosecutors say Matthew Farwell killed Sandra Birchmore, 23, and tried to stage […]

2 hours ago

Sarah Leyba grieves as she visits her flooded property in Edith, Colo., Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Bri...

Associated Press

Uninsured and flooded out, a Colorado man worries if life will be normal again

EDITH, Colo. (AP) — Matthew Martinez has lived nearly all of his 60 years in a canyon on the Navajo River and never saw severe floods. Then twice over the last two weeks the river surged through his home and outbuildings in far southwestern Colorado, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of the resort town […]

2 hours ago

This undated image provided by Navajo Tours USA on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, shows a rock formation k...

Associated Press

Desert icons collapse as southwestern US gets pummeled with rain and flooding

There are stretches of high desert in northwestern New Mexico where Mother Nature has sculpted otherworldly forms using wind, rain and the passage of time. Hefty planks of rock defy gravity as they balance atop spindly pedestals of clay, while some columns of sandstone take on the appearance of lace, elaborately eroded by the seasons. […]

2 hours ago

Weekend event digest: Oktoberfest, pumpkins and all things fall