Hooray for Oktoberfest!

The 2013 Oktoberfest International Arts & Culture Festival will be on October 6th from 11am - 4pm.

This year will feature "Little Germany" (the parking lot between Church, Bridge and Main Streets) and include a German band and dance troupe, a food court with authentic German food and American fare, and a craft beer garden.

Oktoberfest will also offer four bands performing on the Big Chair stage:

• 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Celthix
• 1 p.m. - 2 p.m. MHS Jazz Band
• 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. The Boys and Girls Club Steel Drum Orchestra
• 3 p.m. -4 p.m. The Triad Highlanders. 

Martial Arts demonstrations will be held at 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Lester Street. The event will feature well over 200 vendors. Vendors will be offering all types of merchandise from clothing and personal accessories to arts and crafts, hand-turned wood products, paintings, baked goods, jewelry, stained glass, home accents, candles, cookbooks, custom firepits, ATVs and much, much more. 

Since more vendors means more space, there is a new footprint in uptown for the event. This year the event will start on Church Street at the far corner of Little Germany close to the City Municipal Building, run on both sides of the street all the way down to Lester Street (at the corner with BB&T, Suntrust and Bank of America), have vendors set up on both sides of Lester Street, then back up both sides of Main Street all the way to the far corner of Little Germany. 

In response to a request for more food vendors, the Little German food court will feature a German food vendor as well as six American style food vendors and offer a variety of seating. Other food vendors are located throughout uptown. In order to make sure everyone knows their way around and doesn't miss any of the great performances, flyers will be distributed at both ends of Church Street and Main Street showing the vendor map and listing the performance times and venues, so don't forget to pick one up.

Kids will have a great time at Oktoberfest. A giant bounce house and an inflatable slide will be available in Little Germany, and there will be other inflatables off Main Street. Everyone will enjoy the free petting zoo provided by Infinity Acres. The SPCA's Haunted House located on Church Street in the old social services building is sure to be a big hit with everyone (different shows are suitable for all ages). And finally there are balloon animals provided by Checkered Pig and several face painting booths. In case the kids (or the adults) have a sweet tooth, there will also be a selection of carnival foods from popcorn and cotton candy to funnel cake and snow cones.

The Martinsville Oktoberfest would not be possible without the support of our sponsors. Thank you to Samuel Adams (distributed by Lawrence Distributing), Bassett Furniture, Hooker Furniture, Bassett Mirror, Debbie's Staffing, the EDC, Subway, and HD Web Studio.

The Martinsville Uptown Oktoberfest is a free, family friendly day out that will run from 11am till 4pm on October 6th and is the don't miss event of the year!