Hardin County Events This Week: Harvest Festival, Bluegrass, Oktoberfest

Key Takeaways

• The Great Pages Circus is at the Hardin County Fairgrounds Tuesday through Thursday, five shows total, with Thursday night the last local performance
• The Vine Grove Bluegrass Festival returns to Optimist Park for its 27th year, Thursday through Saturday, and Thursday is free
• Fort Knox Oktoberfest is Friday, 5 to 10 PM at Brooks Field, free to get in, with a visitor pass available at the business center by the gate
• The Glow for Recovery 5K is Friday night at Elizabethtown Sports Park, free to run, with packet pickup at 6:30 PM and a 7:45 start
• The Heartland Harvest Festival takes over downtown Elizabethtown all day Saturday, and its 5K starts at 8 AM at Elizabethtown Nature Park, a different location across town

Summary

Heading into Jon O'Brien's segment, the crew noted that Saturday alone had at least 17 things on the calendar, too many to fit on a single page.

The week builds like a good setlist. It starts with a circus that is about to leave town, picks up Thursday when the bluegrass starts in Vine Grove, splits Friday night three ways between a German festival on post and a glow-in-the-dark 5K, and ends with downtown Elizabethtown closed off for the biggest fall festival on the county calendar.

The Week Ahead

Tuesday through Thursday: The Great Pages Circus

The Great Pages Circus is finishing its Hardin County run at the Hardin County Fairgrounds in Elizabethtown. Tuesday is a single 7:00 PM show. Wednesday and Thursday each have two, at 4:30 and 7:30 PM, and Thursday's late show is the last local performance before the tour moves on. It is a ticketed, family-owned traveling circus, with face painting and extras on site.

The circus set off the most entertaining detour of the episode. Jon asked whether anybody on the panel liked going as a kid, got a chorus of no, and the conversation turned into a full referendum on haunted houses. Rachel Brantingham made the strongest case against:

"I know they're all acting. I know they're not real. And I'll even be like, when they're up in my face, it's not real, it's not real, it's not real. It doesn't matter. It is real to me in my head at 37 years old. I'm a giant child."

Grafton Sizemore pointed out the local problem: he went through one in Vine Grove in high school, and at a small-town haunted house the people working it know you, so they single you out. Britten McDowell added that every family seems to have one kid who loves this stuff and one who gets dragged along. Nate Bryan remembered his own dad working the old Kiwanis club haunted house at the Pritchard Community Center with a chainsaw, which he says wrecked him for a while.

Thursday through Saturday: Vine Grove Bluegrass Festival

The 27th annual Vine Grove Bluegrass Festival runs at Optimist Park in Vine Grove. Thursday is free to the public. Friday and Saturday are ticketed.

Jon's take on the change:

"Thursday is a fun day because it's free. This event used to be all free, but I think as it's grown in popularity it's had to kind of charge for the Friday, Saturdays. But Thursday's free."

He also made the case that bluegrass is having a moment, with younger audiences coming in through acts like Billy Strings and the wider Americana wave, and said what he likes about this one is that it is local instead of a drive.

Friday: Fort Knox Oktoberfest

Fort Knox Oktoberfest is Friday, 5:00 to 10:00 PM at Brooks Field. It is free and open to the public, with German food and music, a bratwurst eating contest, barrel rolling, keg tossing, hayrides, a pumpkin patch and bounce houses for the kids.

If you do not have regular access to post, Jon walked through how to get on:

"You just got to go up to the business center. There's a little business center right to the left of the gate, pull in there and get your ID checked, all the stuff, get your credentials to go in."

He noted you will usually be offered a multi-day pass and that the shorter ones are easier to get. Rachel Brantingham, who went last year, vouched for it: good food, plenty for kids, and worth going for the culture on post by itself.

And in case anyone is confused by the calendar, Jon covered that too: Oktoberfest starts in September. It ends in October. The traditional beer is a Märzen, brewed in March and lagered for months.

Friday night: Glow for Recovery 5K

The Glow for Recovery 5K Run/Walk is Friday at Elizabethtown Sports Park, 1401 West Park Road. Packet pickup is 6:30 PM and the race starts at 7:45 PM. It is free to participate, part of National Recovery Month, with glow paint stations on site. Wear the brightest neon or light-up gear you own.

Saturday: Heartland Harvest Festival

The Heartland Harvest Festival is the marquee event of the week, running all day downtown Elizabethtown, with Dixie Highway closed off. Expect a cruise in, a pumpkin patch, an artisan market, food vendors, a free kids zone, and Little Texas and The Crashers playing in the lot behind the Justice Center.

Do not confuse it with the Heartland Parade, which was a couple of weeks ago.

Two locations, one day. The festival is downtown, but the Heartland Harvest Festival 5K Walk/Run is at Elizabethtown Nature Park across town. Packet pickup is 7:00 AM, the race starts at 8:00 AM, and registration is $25. It is a light trail course, open to all experience levels, so you do not need to be a runner. If you are doing both, plan the drive between them.

Jon's practical warning is the thing to remember:

"Make sure you park somewhere, because there will be parking available in the Justice Center, but that's where everybody's going to sit. So you've got to park everywhere else other than the Justice Center."

Check the city's site before you head out. Road closure and parking maps go up ahead of the event.

Rachel, who grew up going to the old Heartland Festival, said this one is a close comparison and she will be there with her kids. Asked what he is eating, Jon went with a corn dog, and hopes Bussin' Bites is there. Rachel does not negotiate on funnel cake.

Also this week

The Hardin County Farmers Market runs both Wednesday and Saturday through September 30 at the Farmers Market Pavilion, 200 Peterson Drive in Elizabethtown, with the Saturday market running 8:00 AM to noon. The Vine Grove Farmers Market is Friday.

One Last Thing

Jon did not get to everything, and said so on air. The rest of the week, including library programs, Fort Knox MWR events and the government meeting calendar, is on the site.

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