Oktoberfest coming to Wetumpka this weekend

By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer

Lucky Lawrence has seen his fair share of Europe, especially Germany.

Lawrence helped open Provisions Cheese and Wine Shoppe and wants to bring an original Oktoberfest to downtown Wetumpka.

“When we lived in Europe, we lived in a small town,” Lawrence said. “Every small town held an Octoberfest to honor all the farmers. It’s a harvest festival. After all, that is what it originated from.”

Lawrence said the traditional Oktoberfest is far from the drunkfest some think it is and believes Wetumpka is the perfect place for the fall festival.

“Everyone thinks it’s about beer drinking but it’s about the farmers,” Lawrence said.

“We are surrounded by farmers here in Wetumpka and Elmore County. So I wanted to do something to celebrate the people around us, celebrate a small town.”

The festival will be in downtown from 4 to 9 p.m. both Friday and Saturday.

“We will have 12 bands on three stages over the course of two days,” Lawrence said.

“It’s a free event and everyone is welcome. We are not charging farmers to sell their product. We are not charging our craft makers to sell their product. We are not charging people entry to come to it.”

Stage one will be between the Coosa Craft House and the tourist trap. Stage two will be in The Alley and stage three will be behind the Wetumpka Chamber of Commerce.

Lawrence said there will be far more to the festival than just music.

“We are going to have numerous food vendors in town,” Lawrence said. “We will have a German food truck in town. We are going to have a lot of people doing German themed stuff to highlight Oktoberfest. The restaurants in town and the beer serving establishments will have German beer available. Most of the stores in town will have some form of a sale going on.”

Lawerence said there will be plenty of other things to do and try.

“I want to start small and work on getting bigger over a period of time,” Lawrence said. “We are trying to bring out everyone to come hang out downtown. If you haven’t seen Wetumpka in the glow of the night, it’s beautiful.”