34th Annual Apple Scrapple Festival | Bridgeville, Delaware | Oct. 9–10
Only in Bridgeville could scrapple inspire two days of food, fun and flying skillets.
The Apple Scrapple Festival celebrates the local favorite with the Ladies’ Iron Skillet Toss, Scrapple Chunkin’ Contest and Mayor’s Scrapple Sling. Carnival rides, a car show and plenty to eat round out a festival that has been drawing crowds to downtown Bridgeville for more than three decades.
>>Go: Friday from 4 p.m.; Saturday from 9 a.m. Free admission. applescrapple.com
Good Beer Festival | Salisbury, Maryland | Oct. 9–10
Beer tastes better outside — especially after dark. Friday night transforms Pemberton Historical Park into a beer lover’s playground, with dozens of breweries pouring beneath the trees alongside live entertainment and decidedly grown-up diversions like a keg toss and adult spelling bee.
Saturday brings another round of brews with a more family-friendly afternoon atmosphere.
>>Go: Friday, 5–10 p.m.; Saturday, noon–5 p.m. Pemberton Historical Park. Ticketed admission. goodbeerfestival.org
53rd Annual Chincoteague Oyster Festival | Chincoteague, Virginia | Oct. 10
Oyster season deserves a proper welcome. Chincoteague has been giving it one for more than half a century with an all-you-can-eat celebration that puts the island’s signature shellfish front and center. Add live music from longtime festival favorite Island Boy and you have a fall tradition worth crossing state lines for. But don’t wing this one. Tickets typically sell out well before festival day.
>>Go: 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Tom’s Cove Park. $65; children younger than 5 free. chincoteaguechamber.com
Harbor Day at the Docks | West Ocean City, Maryland | Oct. 10
Get up close with the people, boats and traditions behind the Shore’s working waterfront.
Harbor Day opens the West Ocean City Commercial Harbor for a free celebration featuring the traditional Blessing of the Fleet, oyster shucking, fish-cleaning demonstrations, a crab cake eating contest and plenty of opportunities to talk with local watermen about life on the water. It’s hands-on, distinctly local and about as Shore as it gets.
>>Go: 10 a.m.–3 p.m., Sunset Avenue, West Ocean City Commercial Harbor. Free. harbordayoc.com
Oktoberfest | Berlin, Maryland | Oct. 17
Prost! Downtown Berlin goes Bavarian for the day with brats, knockwurst, soft pretzels, German chocolate cake and plenty to wash it all down. The Edelweiss Band brings traditional Oktoberfest sounds, while two stages keep the music going throughout the afternoon. Bonus: Berlin’s fall sidewalk sale happens the same day. Eat your way down Main Street, then shop your way back.
>>Go: 11 a.m.–4 p.m., downtown Berlin. Free admission and shuttle from Berlin Intermediate School. berlinmainstreet.com
Wine on the Beach at Sunfest | Ocean City, Maryland | Oct. 23–24
New weekend. New location. Same reason to raise a glass. After decades as a September tradition, Wine on the Beach moves to Sunfest weekend this year, bringing East Coast wineries, microbrews, Delmarva cuisine and live music to the Ocean City Convention Center. Make a weekend of it. Sunfest runs Oct. 22–25 with more than 200 artisans, 20-plus bands, food and a Shore Craft Beer garden at the Inlet.
>>Go: Sunfest, Oct. 22–25, Inlet lot, free admission. Wine on the Beach, Oct. 23–24, Ocean City Convention Center, ticketed. ococean.com/sunfest; winefest.com
CBMM OysterFest | St. Michaels, Maryland | Nov. 7
Technically November. Definitely worth putting on the calendar.
The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum celebrates the Bay’s favorite bivalve with oysters from local farms and the Talbot Watermen Association, an oyster stew competition, slurp-off and retriever demonstrations.
Come hungry and prepared to settle the eternal question of raw, roasted, fried or stewed.
>>Go: 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Ticketed admission. cbmm.org
