EAST LONGMEADOW — East Longmeadow’s third annual Oktoberfest celebration will take place on Saturday, Oct. 19, from noon to 4 p.m. at Brown Farm Recreation Area in support of increased usage and improvement of the park’s nature trails.
Organized by the East Longmeadow Recreation Commission with support for East Longmeadow Recreation Foundation, the town’s Oktoberfest will feature food and activities for both children and adults, East Longmeadow Recreation Foundation President and East Longmeadow Recreation Commission member Bill Rinaldi told Reminder Publishing. There is no rain date scheduled for this event.
Brown Farm Recreation Area is located at 64 Hampden Rd. near Mountain View Elementary School. The property is owned by the town and abuts multiple conservation areas, Rinaldi stated. It currently hosts the town’s community garden and access to nature trails.
“A lot of people don’t know [Brown Farm Recreation Area] is there,” Rinaldi said, explaining that the East Longmeadow Recreation Foundation hoped the Oktoberfest event would help to increase local usage of the park.
Residents will be able to walk along Brown Farm’s trails during the Oktoberfest event to enjoy the fall sights and spend time with loved ones. Each visitor will be given a map of the available trails when arriving at the event, Rinaldi noted. Other available activities will be a bounce house, lawn games for children and adults, crafts, music, a raffle and a makers’ market with 16 Western Massachusetts vendors.
Raffle prizes will include four family tickets to a Springfield Thunderbirds game of the winner’s choosing as well as gift baskets and gift cards from local businesses. Available food will include mac and cheese and hot dogs, as well as craft beer on tap by One Way Brewing and non-alcoholic drinks by bubble tea store Joy Cup.
Visitors can also register to enter the dog costume contest, which will occur at 1 p.m. during the event. The contest winner will receive a $50 gift card to Comb & Collar Pet Styling on 57 Maple St.
Funds will be raised at the event through resident donations, raffle ticket costs and a fee paid by the participating craft and food vendors for a spot at the event, Rinaldi said. Attendance to the celebration is free to the public and all vendors retain 100% of their earnings during the event. Funds from the event will support work to improve and expand the trails at Brown Farm.
The town’s first Oktoberfest celebration drew more than 400 visitors, Rinaldi said. During its second year, the event was pushed to its rain date due to poor weather, but still welcomed approximately 700 residents and raised $1,200 for Brown Farm. To keep the event ever-growing, Rinaldi stated that they were hoping for nearly 1000 attendees this year, although they did not have a specific fundraising goal.
For more information about the Oktoberfest event or the East Longmeadow Recreation Foundation’s work at Brown Farm, contact Rinaldi directly by email at contact@elrecfoundation.org.
