Steve Frey
This is a special weekend if you love fall. Today is the beginning of Oktoberfest (it ends on Oct. 7) in Munich, Germany—the heart of Bavaria.
Today is also the Autumnal Equinox, the official start to fall. As William Cullen Bryant once said, “Autumn…the year’s last, loveliest smile.” It should put a smile on your face, too.
First, did you know that Oktoberfest started as a wedding celebration? Oktoberfest—or “Wiesn,” in Germany—is not a beer festival, but the anniversary celebration of the wedding between Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig and his wife, Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen, in 1810.
They’ve been celebrating in Germany almost every year (missed a few because of war or epidemic) for over 200 falls (autumns, not tripping because of too much reveling).
There are many Oktoberfest celebrations around Virginia, so dig out your lederhosen or dirndl and enjoy a weiche brezel (soft pretzel) and some Polkamusik at one of them.
Coincidentally, Radford is celebrating the Radford Highlanders Festival just before the end of Oktoberfest Saturday, Oct. 6, so you could make it one exciting weekend emersion in two distinct cultures!
Radford University actually has a countdown clock on its website for this big event. Here is a little background from their site: “Over the past 20 years, the festival has more than tripled in size, and now attracts an estimated crowd of 10,000 people. Whether a family’s background is of Scots-Irish origin or of other descent, the day always brings with it an air of excitement…”
This amazing festival has something for everyone. Again, from the RU site: Come down to “Radford’s Bisset Park for a day-long celebration of the region’s rich heritage.
Come early and get a good seat on the risers to enjoy the Scots-Irish heavyweight games. Bisset Park will be alive with clan gatherings, diverse crafts, sheepherding demonstrations, children’s activities, and music grounded in the rich heritage of both the Scots-Irish and the Appalachian region.”
If you are a runner, sign up for the Braveheart 5K (kilts are welcomed and encouraged).
There’s even a free one-mile fun run immediately following the 5K to challenge youngsters or Highlanders-in-training.
Get this joint RU and Radford City festival on your events calendar now. Hey, you might even get carried away and do a wee dannsa to the music of the headliner band, Tuatha Dea, a Celtic folk-rock band from Tennessee. Tuatha Dea will share original music “that encompasses Appalachian, Celtic, tribal and rock themes.”
Yeah, this is the time for festivals (all kinds), leaf peeping and delicious fall flavors accented by cinnamon and pumpkin.
It is the end of summer and provides some of the last opportunities for outdoor activities that don’t involve winter coats and scarves.
In the New River Valley, this is actually the best time of the year to get outside and enjoy nature. The temperature is just right, and there is nothing more beautiful than sun-tinted leaves painted against a bright azure sky.
Albert Camus said, “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” What could be better than a hike among the mountains (with or without singing “The Happy Wanderer”) with all of those “flowers” adding color to every landscape? Another way to enjoy those autumn hues is by floating down the Little or New Rivers surrounded by nature’s panorama in a cozy kayak or canoe.
Lauren Destefano said, “Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”
It is kind of like a grand finale to a fireworks show. As you are hiking over hill and dale, take time to experience the beauty all around you. Better yet, take some other folks along with you.
Yes, for example, pull children away from the computer or phone to just not experience fall vicariously through someone else’s Facebook pictures but for themselves personally.
Too often in our hectic lives, we miss out on the moment. We let the sights, sounds, and even the smell of fall slip away from our full consideration. Yeah, there is the aromatic food, but also the wood burning in someone’s fireplace or dry leaves as you rake them together.
The woods themselves take on a rich, remarkable fall aroma as they fill up with fallen leaves.
We only get so many autumns to experience; we should not take them for granted.
“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree,” Emily Brontë once said. Bliss is such an apropos word, and those poplars or aspens do seem to applaud as you walk through them. A hike on a bright autumn day can be, indeed, the definition of bliss.
So don’t miss fun community events like Oktoberfest or the Radford Highlanders Festival, and don’t forget those long hikes through the ever-changing forest.
Embrace fall and all its gifts and remember, take someone else with you so you can share the experience together.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was right when he said, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”
Don’t miss it!
Steve Frey is a writer and CEO of Ascendant Educational Services based in Radford.
