5 Things

Things are getting creepier and beerier around town. We’re deep into fall now, there’s no looking back.

October 25, 2012; 6:35 AM • by Susan Howson

Things are getting creepier and beerier around town. We’re deep into fall now, there’s no looking back.

1. Fall Food Trucktober Festival at Hardywood

Richmond loves two things: food trucks and…thinking up puns that involve the word October! Bet you thought I was going to say “beer,” didn’t you? Well, I’d appreciate it if you stopped trying to get into my head. But as it happens, Richmonders do love beer almost as much as they love puns, and tonight the beer (and maybe the puns?) will flow across TWO count them TWO parking lots to celebrate Hardywood’s first anniversary. They’ve got double the trucks, double the flavor, and double the space. Kids are welcome and admission is free, but it would be super cool of all of you to bring some cash with you to keep those lines movin’.

Thurs. Oct. 25 • 5:00 – 9:00 PM
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, 2408 Ownby Ln.
Free to attend

2. 44th Richmond Oktoberfest

This, my friends, THIS is the real deal. Germans and America come together in a blinding clash of dirndls and overly large t-shirts to celebrate heritage as well as Richmond’s third-favorite thing: beer. Did you know this? The Richmond Oktoberfest has been going on SINCE BEFORE YOU WERE BORN (maybe) and is the largest Oktoberfest in the state (definitely)! Get your Alpine on with or without the kids and chow down on delicious sauerkraut, sausages, pastries, doorbells, sleigh bells, and schnitzel with noodles.

Fri. Oct. 26 – Sat. Oct. 27 • 6:00 PM – 12:00 AM
The Showplace Exhibition Center, 3000 Mechanicsville Tpke.
$8 – $10, kids are willkommened free of charge

3. Richmond Symphony LolliPops Series Presents: Peter and the Wolf

Ah, Peter! You’re always letting your curiosity get away with you, following ducks and cats around until you get eaten by a….oh, snap, almost spoiled it for you guys, sorry! This Saturday, keep your wee ones (carefully) on the edge of their seat as Michael Boudewyns narrates the classic Prokofiev-scored tale of a wolf who only wants to eat a delicious boy but nobody will let him. The woeful hungry animal theme will be extended through the rest of the program, which features Haydn’s “Bear” symphony and Rossini’s “Cat Duet.”

Sat. Oct. 27 • 11:00 AM
Carpenter Theatre, 600 E. Grace St.
$17 for adults, $12 for delicious wolf bait

4. Richmond Zombie Walk

If you haven’t experienced the Richmond Zombie Walk, you haven’t lived! And if you have experienced it, you’ve lived, died, and been reanimated. Every year, a bunch of corpses rise from their grave and shamble along our shopping district. Do they stop for glass of wine at Secco? No! Do they peruse the greeting cards at Mongrel? Of course not! Do they step into Can Can for a bite to eat? Well, maybe, depending on how tempting your brains look at that very moment. There are two ways to experience the Walk: observe or participate. Even if you choose to do neither, you should still click around on their website for some pretty funny copy. “Freshen up your blood and gouges.” Hillarious!

Sat. Oct. 27 • Meet at 1:00 PM, Shamble at 3:00 PM
Meet at Byrd Park, Shamble in Carytown
So free, it’s scary

5. Séance at Historic Tredegar

People in the olden days were super obsessed with getting in touch with long-dead relatives. That was before they BECAME long-dead relatives, but there’s no need to point out that fact. Get historically creepy at Tredegar every night next week with Mr. and Mrs. Nelson (reenactors, not ghosts) as they try to contact their fallen Civil War soldier son (an actual ghost) with the help of a medium. It’s spine-tingling. It’s bone-chilling. It’s historically accurate.