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TOP 5 PICKS

🍺 The city’s biggest Oktoberfest happens at Wolff’s Biergarten’s annual block party featuring huge crowds, Oktoberfest games, wiener racing and a best-dressed competition. The 21+ celebration transforms the street outside Wolff’s into a beer-soaked festival worthy of any in Bavaria. Sat, 11a-6p. $10 presale tix on sale now.

🕰️ The Upper Madison Street Fair is a treasured neighborhood tradition featuring live music and dance, local vendors and artists, food, community groups, a kids zone, plus hands-on activities like art-making, chess, and ping pong. Sun, 12-5p, free.

🥭 The inaugural New York Pawpaw Festival celebrates this quirky native fruit at Magic Forest Farm in Coeymans Hollow with tastings, workshops, live music and farm exploration. The two-day festival sprawls across the farm’s 200-plus acres and is designed as a full-on introduction to one of the region’s most unusual seasonal treats. Sat & Sun, various times. Get tix: $45 single day; $82 both days; children 10 and under free.

📚️ The 9th Annual Albany Book Festival gathers more than 100 authors, exhibitors and booksellers to UAlbany’s Campus Center. Expect to explore the craft of writing, the allure of the memoir, and hot topics ranging from trans athletes to America’s relationship with Iran and Iranians. Sat, 10:30a–5p, free.

🎸 Love. Joy. Festival. raises awareness of mental health with support from a terrific lineup of local bands. Taking place at Indian Ladder Farms, the festival raises funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Northeastern NY. On the bill: The E-Block, Amanda Case, Sydney Worthley, E.R.I.E., Stellar Young, Zeffler, Reality Distortion, Haley Stafford, and more. The event concludes with a campfire sing-along! Sat, 3-9p, free.

Honorable mentions:

🥟 TroyAsia Night Market | This year, we’ve been blessed with not one but three TroyAsia Night Markets. It’s back again in its usual spot across from Sunhee’s in Troy to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. As always, get there early to avoid long lines and before vendors like Chateau Homemade Bakery (get your mooncakes here) and Cheebog run out of food! Fri, 5-9p, free.

🎃 The 11th Annual Saratoga Giant PumpkinFest takes over the Saratoga Springs City Center parking garage with growers from across the Northeast hauling in the biggest pumpkins you’ve ever seen, weighing well over 1,000 pounds and even approaching 2,000 pounds! Sat, 11a-3p, free.

THURSDAY

🍄‍🟫 Collar City Mushrooms invites you to learn about mushroom foraging at the Indian Ladder Farms Tasting Room.

🍏 Nine Pin’s free Drag Me to Nine Pin show is always sassy, always fun. If you go, remember to mention “The 518 Crew” to get 10% off all cider pours!

FRIDAY

🖼️ The Printmakers Guild of New York (PGNY) has an awesome new exhibition, “Commanding Color”—a full-blown celebration of the power of color in printmaking. Get to the opening night reception to meet the printmakers.

🍸️ This month’s Troy Night Out is themed College Night Out and features a special scavenger hunt!

🎬️ Pat Fahy and the NYS Writers Institute host a fundraiser for Mary Paley’s new film, Stories from the Pavement, the followup documentary to “The Neighborhood That Disappeared,” about the communities lost during the development of the Empire State Plaza.

🤠 Grab your boots and your besties for line dancing at Evermore Hall’s country night.

🥌 Schenectady Curling Club invites you to Learn to Curl.

🌕️ Experience the Hudson Valley beneath the glow of the full Harvest Moon during a special edition of Walkway at Night!

🤣 The Capital Region's Funniest Comic Competition (Night 2) continues at The Parting Glass in Saratoga.

SATURDAY

🖼️ Browse artwork from dozens of local artists at Fall Art in the Park in Saratoga.

🏠️ Stockade Walkabout gives you a rare chance to step inside some of the unique homes in New York State's first historic district.

🦸‍♂️ Excelsior Con in the Empire State Plaza Concourse is a brand-new, family-friendly celebration of gaming, creativity, and fandom.

🍺 Have you checked out Broken Loop Brewing Co. in Colonie yet? This Saturday is a great time to drop in—join their Oktoberfest celebration featuring $50 tattoos!

🎭️ Cheer on The 518 Beavers as they go up against Nine Pin’s Apples for laughs and bragging rights at Mopco’s always-hilarious Theatresports.

🥾 Peebles Island State Park invites you to a Nighttime Nature Hike.

👕 Circus and Nerdy by Nature team up for this shirt printing event in Troy—bring any colored shirt to get printed!

🎻 Albany High’s Jazzmanian Devils will open for Steep Canyon Rangers at The Egg.

🍺 Downtown Saratoga’s Oktoberfest is brought to you by Druthers and the Franklin Square Market. Meanwhile, downtown Glens Falls puts on its own Oktoberfest.

SUNDAY

🎷 Alias Coffee in Troy hosts the Fall into Jazz Festival, celebrating the life of Tim Coakley and jazz in the Capital Region.

📚️ Get to Nine Pin for the 518 Romantasy Popup.

THEATER ROUNDUP

The Counter, at Harbinger Theatre (now through 9/26)
Left on Tenth by Delia Ephron, at Curtain Call Theatre (9/24-10/4)
The Last American Newspaper, at theREP (9/25-10/18)

Looking for more theater news? Be sure to follow Jeffrey Hocking’s very comprehensive CapDistTheater.org.

UPCOMING

• Saratoga Book Festival (10/1-4)
• The Albany County Fall Fest & 5K (10/3)
• Fidens’ 7th Anniversary Party (10/3)
• Schenectady Wing Walk (10/3)
• The Nightmare Market (10/17)

LIVE MUSIC & MORE

Our music listings are now published separately on The 518 website. Click here.