Many people with the Glockner Family of Dealerships, Friends of Portsmouth, Rob Black and Final Friday, and more are teaming together to organize a weekend of fall events that will welcome the entire family.

The Friends of Portsmouth Craft Beer Fest will be held Saturday, October 7, between noon and 5 p.m. The group promises great beer options, live music, good food, and wonderful company all wrapped in sweater weather. There will also be inflatables and kid activities, with other features for youth to enjoy.

“This is just something else that’s going to bring the community outside,” FoP Executive Director Bryan Smith said. “Plus, it’s not just for beer. We have it setup for a family fun day. There is music, an area for kids, and more. You can come down and let your kids play on the inflatables and enjoy themselves while you eat. It is just a fun day.”

The event is free and open to the public, with the only cost being taste tickets and food. Tastings are $25 for ten tickets.

Smith is looking forward to the event, saying he believes it will be as popular as ever.

“We sold out of cups last year. I bought way more than I thought we needed, and we still had to go get more,” Smith said. “Plus, it was raining last year.”

The music will consist of Corduroy Brown at 1 p.m. and Town Folk at 3 p.m. Food will consist of Wing ‘N It and the Naughty Lobstah.

“We’re looking forward to it. It will be a nice, fall day, and we have quite a bit of beer selections for people to choose from, more than last year,” Smith said.

The event will grow next year, according to Smith, who says Rhonda Hamilton will chair it and add many new elements and ideas to make it an even more enticing event.

Glocktoberfest is in its fifth annual year and will take place Sunday, October 8, between the hours of 1 and 8 p.m. The event promises a day of live music, brews, and barbecue.

“Tim Glockner wants to structure this as a thank you to his employees and community at large, so it is one of the better events of the year for children. We will have inflatables for kids, along with the mayhem inflatable, which is the really big truck, along with a plethora of other good stuff,” Organizer Rob Black explained. “It’s also completely free to the public, outside of food and beer.”

The food at the event will consist of Wing ‘N It, the Scioto Ribber, Stadium Lunch, and Market Street Café. Portsmouth Brewing Company will be onsite.

Other activities include the Stein Challenge, Glockner Museum, inflatables for kids, face painting, Barkers Exotic Petting Zoo, Mark Wood Magic Show, Megan Kennedy Caricatures, and Southern Ohio Axe Throwing.

“I like the fact that the Glockner family trusts us with this event, just as much as I like working with Bryan Smith and Friends of Portsmouth to make it a weekend of events,” Black said. “It is always great to work with them. The thing I appreciate the most, and my wife Julia is excited about, is that they’ve trusted us to date and we will continue to help them as long as we can.”

Black is especially excited for the Stein Challenge, where guests will compete with others to see who can hold a stein of beer extended in their hand for the longest. The challenge is between 2:30 and 3 p.m.

“The Glockners are German, and their name means bell-ringers,” Black said. “In fact, they have a large bell in the Glockner Museum, so we bring that out and we ring it every 15 seconds so everyone knows where they are. When it gets down to the last few people, and they’re struggling to hold their beer and that bell rings, it is like their heart drops a little.”

During the Glocktoberfest, Rob Black will be celebrating a milestone birthday, so, if you see him there, thank him for a well organized event and wish him a happy birthday.

Both events are free, outside of extras and will be held at Market Square in historic downtown Boneyfiddle.

Reach Joseph Pratt at (740) 353-3101, by email at [email protected], © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved.