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A roundup of area Oktoberfest events next month

BY ALLISON BROWN

GetOut Staff Writer

It’s time to pull on the lederhosen, lace up the dirndl and throw back a pint because Oktoberfest season is just around the corner.

According to census data, more than 40 million Americans claim German ancestry — that’s roughly 16% of the U.S. population. And, while there aren’t any hard statistics on the subject, it’s safe to bet that at least a few million Americans also just love a good beer. Maybe that’s why the United States is the country ranked fourth for the most Oktoberfest celebrations, with Germany obviously taking first place.

Here are a few of the Oktoberfest events happening across the state this year.

Downtown Chandler Oktoberfest

Oct. 1

For the first time, Pedal Haus Brewery For the first time, Pedal Haus Brewery and SanTan Brewing Company are joining together to host an epic Oktoberfest event in downtown Chandler Saturday, Oct. 1. (Special to GetOut)

and SanTan Brewing Company are joining together to host an epic Oktoberfest event in downtown Chandler Saturday, Oct. 1. Julian Wright, CEO and founder of Pedal Haus Brewery, said both of the Downtown Chandler companies decided to collaborate instead of competing.

The Downtown Chandler Oktoberfest will feature beer and food from both SanTan and Pedal Haus breweries plus canned craft cocktails. The breweries will serve a range of beers including German-style Oktoberfests. German fare, including Bavarian-style soft pretzels and brats, will be served.

In addition to the food and drinks, there will be a variety of classic Oktoberfest games and contests, including stein holding, wiener toss and sausage-eating contests. And, in keeping with the theme, a full lineup of live music is scheduled, including a German polka band.

“We are stoked to be joining forces with our friends at SanTan to throw one of the best Oktoberfest events in the Valley this year,” Wright said. “I’ll be emceeing the stein holding and sausage-eating competitions, so grab your friends and lederhosen, this is going to be a fun event.”

Dr. A.J. Chandler Park, 3 S. Arizona Ave., Chandler, 480-656-1639, pedalhausbrew-

seeOKTOBERFESTpage 39

Schnepf Farms busily prepares for Pumpkin Party

BY MARK MORAN AFN Staff Writer

Hillbilly Bob’s Pig Races? Yes, Hillbilly Bob is a real guy, and they really do race pigs – which are said to enjoy the experience but like the Oreo cookies they get at the end even more.

The pigs, Swingin’ Lady Bugz, hayrides, a petting zoo, the Stuntmasters dog show and a brand-new ropes course, are just a few of the more high-profile attractions that Schnepf Farms is working frantically to ready for its 26th annual Pumpkin and Chili Party that starts next Saturday, Oct. 1.

The Flying Farmers ride is almost ready to take flight, too, as it joins other attractions like the classic Honeybee Adventure ride and a rock-climbing wall.

Some of the attractions harken to farm owner Mark Schnepf’s family legacy.

“My dad had an airplane. We had an airstrip here on the farm,” he said. “My mom flew as well.”

To honor what was once a big part of the Farm’s way of doing business, a carousel ride with scaled down and freshly painted airplanes, each with a local farm family name emblazoned across the tail, sits in the middle of that gone but not forgotten 3,000-foot dirt airstrip.

It will run beneath strands of replica, vintage light bulbs that have to be checked one by one to be sure they are ready to twinkle on opening night.

The logistics behind the Pumpkin and Chili Party are almost as dizzying as the thrilling, 52-foot-high amusement ride called the Hyper Loop, which will take you up, turn you in all directions, including upside down, and whip you around before bringing you gently to rest in front of one of the concessions stands on the farm.

You’re advised to eat the signature meat, veggie or succotash chili after you take that ride, though.

“It’s the kind of ride that you gotta have a strong stomach if you’re gonna ride that

Mark Schnepf stands on a path of one of the two corn mazes he’s prepared for Schnepf Farms’ annual Pumpkin & Chili Party, which begins Oct. 1. (David Minton/AFN Staff Photographer)

ery.com, 3-11 p.m., $15-$25.

Litchfield Park Oktoberfest at The Wigwam

Oct. 1

In partnership with the city of Litchfield Park, The Wigwam is celebrating Oktoberfest with live music, lawn games, German-inspired cuisine and, of course, beer. Those who preorder tickets through Eventbrite will receive a commemorative Oktoberfest glass. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. This event is for ages 21 and older.

The Wigwam Front Lawn, 300 E. Wigwam Blvd., Litchfield Park, 866-976-6894, wigwamarizona.com/events, 6-9 p.m., ticket price TBD.

Flagstaff Oktoberfest

Oct 1

Flagstaff will host its 13th annual Oktoberfest this year, complete with drinks, food, live music, contests and even bounce houses for the kids. Beer will be aplenty, as will other typical Oktoberfest eats such as pretzels and bratwurst.

Beer may take the center stage, but Jennifer Grogan, event producer, said the contests are “hilarious,” which is why a side stage is set up for five events throughout the day.

First up is the wiener man race, where people put on hot dog costumes and race to navigate through an obstacle course. New this year is the chicken dance contest. There is also a brat-eating contest, which Grogan said is both a “fan favorite and absolutely disgusting.” Then there is the traditional Bavarian stein contest for men and women, separately. In this contest, participants hold a liter of beer in a heavyduty glass with their arms in front of them.

The last competition of the day is the frozen T-shirt contest. Grogan said T-shirts are folded, tied and frozen, and teams of two compete to try to be the first to get the shirt undone and on a body. She adds that, because this is the last competition of the day, participants are usually “feeling the alcohol… so it’s pretty funny.”

Wheeler Park, 212 W. Aspen Ave., Flagstaff, 928-606-7600, flagstaffoktoberfest.com, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., $5-$7, kids under 12 free.

Haus Murphy’s

All October

Haus Murphy is a German restaurant that offers beer, brats, pretzels and Polka year-round. But during October, it ramps up.

The restaurant has been serving German food for 26 years, so while the Oktoberfest fan favorites of soft pretzels and bratwursts are available, there is a whole menu of authentic German cuisine to try.

Limited seating is available, and spots tend to fill up fast, so advance reservations are strongly recommended. Haus Murphy’s, 5739 W. Glendale Ave., Glendale, 623-939-2480, hausmurphys. com, 5-9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays throughout October.

Four Peaks Oktoberfest

Oct. 7-9

The Four Peak Oktoberfest in Tempe is the largest in the state, drawing 75,000 to 100,000 people over the three-day period.

Food is provided by Denmark Foods, with the featured menu item being a Kilt Lifter Brat in partnership with Four Peaks. New this year, there will also be vegetarian empanadas.

The festival has a carnival with 15 to 20 rides and games. Live music will be played each night, including a performance from a German polka band. There will also be classic Oktoberfest competitions, such as stein holding, brat eating, a wiener dog race and a wiener dog fashion show — which features dog and owner in costume.

Tempe Beach Park, 80 W. Rio Salado Pkwy., Tempe, 60-.625-3493, fourpeak-

SCHNEPF from page 38

ride,” Schnepf said. “They actually suggest that you wait about 20 minutes between rides.”

It takes the 20 regular staff plus an additional 150 seasonal folks thousands of hours to make the 50-acre “park” area in the middle of the farm ready for what Schnepf says will be about 100,000 visitors next month.

“We start preparing for the Pumpkin and Chili Party in July when we plant the corn for the corn mazes. We have two giant corn mazes we do here on the farm,” Schnepf said.

One is about 4 acres. The other is 10. The smaller one is designed for visitors to pass through quickly.

The larger one is known as the celebrity maze in which the likeness of a wellknown person is carved into the corn field. Past celebrities include Phoenix sports legends Luis Gonzalez and Steve Nash.

Others have included news icon Larry King and boxing champion Mohammed Ali, all of whom have been present when their likeness is unveiled.

“What we usually do is charter a helicopter for him or her and fly them out so they can see their image in the maze from up above because if you’re just looking at the corn you can’t see what’s there.”

This year’s honoree remains a secret.

While corn mazes are an historic tradition in the fall, getting them carved into the corn is a decidedly modern and high-tech process.

Schnepf hires a company to create the celebrity likeness with a computer program which then assigns GPS coordinates in the cornfield.

“Then they come out when the corn is about 6 inches tall,” Schnepf said. “They use their handheld GPS system to spray the pattern into the corn so that the corn dies and the rest of the corn grows to be about 8 feet tall.”

Carving the corn mazes and tidying up the pathways that go through them … check that off the list.

Sprucing up and cleaning the restored, historic 1950’s era buildings that dot the farm, check.

Shining up the amusement rides and checking them for operational and safety issues, check.

Chili, pizza, Italian Ice and other festival food on order, check.

Putting out trash cans and getting the bathrooms cleaned and prepared – that’s just about done too. There is also a new field of sunflowers this year, designed to inspire selfies among the partygoers, according to Schnepf.

And what would a fall festival be without big, luscious, bright orange pumpkins peeking out from their thick green patch,

Jaime Alaniz adds a fresh coat of paint to a hydraulic cylinder on The Honeybee Adventure ride as Schnepf Farms prepares for their annual Pumpkin & Chili Party. (David Minton/AFN

Staff Photographer)

Gilbert Oktoberfest

Oct. 15

In its third year, the Gilbert Oktoberfest is ramping things up “100%,” according to event director Mike O’Donnell. He said there will be more beer, more food and more entertainment.

The event is teaming with breweries in the East Valley, which will create something completely new.

“They’re creating a collaborative beer for this event, where each one of the brewmasters has been sitting together and they all come up with their own recipe,” O’Donnell said. “We will have that available at every outlet at the event and it will only be available there at the event.”

The event also features the selfproclaimed “Queen of Oktoberfest,” and her band “The Oktoburlesques.” They perform traditional polka blended with today’s hits.

In true Oktoberfest spirit, there will also be a brat-eating contest and stein holding contest. There’s also a kid’s zone and children can enter for free.

Gilbert Regional Park, 3005 E. Queen Creek Road, Gilbert, gilbertoktoberfest. com, 2-9 p.m., ticket price TBD. 

waiting to be picked and carved into JackO-Lanterns for Halloween?

And … what about the light frost that settles on the pumpkin patch at night as temperatures dip, creating that chilly Autumn vibe this time of year?

“This is a little bit of Schnepf Farms magic.” Schnepf said. “Not everyone knows this but in Arizona it’s so warm here in this area, you can grow pumpkins but they don’t turn orange until November because they need cold weather to turn orange.

“And so, we ship in our pumpkins from colder climates. We get them from Colorado. We might get them from Utah. We don’t advertise that.”

The pumpkin patches on either side of the bumpy dirt road wending through the farm stand empty – save for the rogue weed patches still waiting for attention from the farmhands. “We have this beautiful field of blackeyed peas that we plant and those pumpkins magically appear each night in that field of black-eyed peas and people come out to the pumpkin patch and are able to get their pumpkins,” Schnepf said.

Warm Arizona weather isn’t the only challenge that Schnepf faces.

Like other events, The Pumpkin and Chili Party was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdown that ensued, a sluggish economy as things started to return to normal, and supply chain problems, which, Schnepf said, are still a problem today.

“We have lots of equipment here with the rides and things, so we have to make sure that we have extra parts for the rides,” he said. “When a ride goes down you want to make sure you’re able to repair it in an hour or two instead of a day or two.”

For Schnepf, managing the supply chain problems, as is also the case with other businesses, comes down to looking as far as possible into the future and predicting what he will or may need and hoping he guesses right, which can often be difficult when he’s operating vintage equipment on the farm.

“The train is particularly important to us,” Schnepf said. “People love taking the train ride around the farm and at nighttime it becomes the spooky train ride and we hire high school kids to dress up in costumes and scare people.”

The same holds true for the aging but spruced up Flying Farmers ride, Ferris wheel, roller coaster, carousel, the tractors for the hayrides and dozens of other attractions designed to show families a good time.

Beyond the supply chain issues, Schnepf is feeling other effects of an economy that has now gone from stagnant to superheated. “It’s becoming more difficult to staff an event like this because it’s a short-term event for a month,” Schnepf said. “As the economy gets better it’s harder to find employees so we employ young people. “It might be their first-time job so we do a lot of training. But we’re always looking for adults who want to have a part time job, a second job, a seasonal job, whatever the case may be because staffing is super important,” he said.

So is timing.

The maze corn that workers planted in July takes a lot of tending. It has to be watered at just the right time and dry by a certain time so that workers can get a tractor into the field to carve the mazes, the corn from which is eventually used to feed the farm animals.

Amid the crushing pace of growth in Queen Creek, this protected, little area of town on Schnepf Farms really has kept a slice of Arizona’s agricultural history alive and thriving.

“We’ve been doing this for so many years now,” Schnepf said, “people that came here as little kids are now all grown up and they’re bringing their little kids. We are into the third generation of people coming to the Pumpkin and Chili Party, and it’s truly a family tradition.”

Beneath hundreds of the farm’s peach trees (Schnepf is the largest peach producer in the state) walking through this part of the 81-year-old farm is like stepping back in time, onto an old movie set.

“That’s what we’re going for,” Schnepf said. “Kind of a 1950’s farm experience.”

Even though The Pumpkin and Chili Party takes center stage in October, the rest of the activity on the working farm does not slow down.

Crops are being tended. Animals must be looked after and Schnepf Farms is also a wedding venue.

The farm has been re-zoned to agritainment; a designation designed to allow farming to take place while also serving as an entertainment venue with a nod towards keeping Queen Creek’s agricultural history alive.

“Doing the agritainment helps us preserve the farm,” Schnepf said. “Because if it was just a farm, where we were just growing crops, we probably couldn’t stay in business.” 

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