Steins up, eleven minutes out — Unplug This Weekend: Hunter Mountain Oktoberfest, Peak Color and a Long Weekend Upstate (October 10–11)
Editorial illustration; not a photograph of any event.

This is the Hunter Mountain Oktoberfest weekend, and Hunter Mountain is eleven minutes from Clove Creek Cabin. Belleayre and Windham run free festivals the same two days, Kingston has two festivals at once, and Monday is a holiday for a lot of people, so a few farms stay open for it. If you caught the early round two weeks ago, this is the main event; our September 26–27 weekend guide covered the garlic festival, the ski swaps and that first Oktoberfest.

Below: every pick on our events calendar for October 10–11, grouped by drive, with hours and admission from each organizer’s own page, checked on October 9. Organizers can change prices on the day, so check the official page before you go.

Autumn color on a steep Catskills mountainside under grey clouds, near Shandaken, NY
Catskill Mountains near Shandaken, NY. Photo: Moriah Wolfe / Unsplash

Every pick this weekend

Within an hour of the cabin

EventWhenAdmissionFrom Clove Creek
Colors in the Catskills: Authentic Oktoberfest, Hunter MountainSat 11–6, Sun 11–5; SkyRide from 9Free admission and parking; VIP $41 / $89~11 min
Belleayre Fall Festival, HighmountSat–Sun 10–5Free admission and parking; gondola extra~26 min
Windham’s 32nd Autumn Affair, Main StreetSat–Sun 10–5Free~28 min
Catskill Farmers Market, Water StreetSun 10–1Not listed~41 min
Fiddlers! 33, Roxbury Arts CenterSat workshops 11–2, dance to 5; Sun concert 3–6Concert $12–$28; 16 and under free~44 min
Field + Supply Fall MRKT, Hutton Brickyards, KingstonFri–Sun 10–6$25 a day, $35 two, $45 three; under 12 free~50 min
O+ Festival, uptown KingstonFri–Sun; Sat block party 1–10By-donation wristband~50 min

One to two hours from the cabin

EventWhenAdmissionFrom Clove Creek
Maple Shade Hootenanny, DelhiSat–Sun 10–5$15 adults, $5 kids 5+~1 h 7 min
Columbia County Harvest Craft Festival, ChathamSat–Sun 10–5$7 a day, $12 weekend (sale prices)~1 h 11 min
Fishkill Farms Fall Harvest Festival, Hopewell JunctionSat–Mon; maze 10–5Corn maze $5, by reservation~1 h 26 min
Stormville Airport Antique Show & Flea MarketSat–Sun 8–4Free admission and parking~1 h 30 min
Bear Mountain Family Fall Fest & Craft Brew GardenSat–Mon 11–5Not published; free parking at Anthony Wayne~1 h 35 min
SUP Witches Festival, Sleepy HollowSat 12–5 (rain date Sun)Spectators $8 advance, $10 day of~2 h

About three hours from Manhattan

EventWhereWhenAdmission
Saratoga Showcase of Homes (final weekend)Saratoga CountySat–Sun 10–4$25, both weekends; under 12 free
West Mountain Fall FestivalQueensburySat–Sun 9–2Free admission; lift and activities extra
“The Way We Were” Car ShowDowntown Ballston SpaSun 9–4Not listed
Berkshire Botanical Garden Harvest FestivalStockbridge, MASat–Sun 10–5$15 adults; under 12 free
Naumkeag Pumpkin ShowStockbridge, MAWed–Sun 5–9$32 adults, $15 ages 3–15; advance only
Hawthorne Valley Harvest FestivalGhentSat 11–3Free; marionette show $5
Ladies of Hyde Hall TourCooperstownSat 4–5About $23 on Eventbrite
Hyde & Shriek! Candlelit Ghost ToursCooperstownSat eveningAbout $28.50 on Eventbrite
Cooperstown Farmers MarketPioneer Alley, CooperstownSat 9–2Not listed

About five hours from Manhattan

EventWhereWhenAdmission
Flaming Leaves FestivalOlympic Jumping Complex, Lake PlacidSat–Sun 9–5$10 adults, $5 juniors and seniors
Lake Placid Classic Half Marathon, 10K & 5KLake PlacidSat 8:00 (5K 8:10)Race registration
Thurman Fall Festival & Town Wide Yard SaleThurmanSat–Sun; quilt show SatNot stated
Greater Ithaca Art Trail: Open Studio WeekendTompkins CountySat–Sun 11–5Not stated
Cornell vs. Harvard footballSchoellkopf Field, IthacaSat 1:00See cornellbigred.com
Bristol Mountain Fall FestivalCanandaiguaSat–Sun 11–5$12; $20 with Sky Ride
Harvest Fest at Hosmer WineryOvidSat 1–4Free
Witches, Women & Wine at Lucas VineyardsInterlakenSun 11:30–4Drinks sold separately
Folk Art Guild Open House & Apple FestivalMiddlesexSat–Sun 11–4Free
Dates, hours and prices from each organizer’s own page, checked October 9, 2026. Prices may be changed by the organizers on the day of the event. Drive times from Clove Creek Cabin via Google Maps, without traffic.

Hunter Mountain Oktoberfest, eleven minutes away

Colors in the Catskills runs its Authentic Oktoberfest on Saturday from 11 to 6 and Sunday from 11 to 5, with the Scenic SkyRide turning from 9. Admission and parking are free.

Saturday. Keg rolling and kids’ steinholding at noon, the Doxie Derby at 1, Jimmy Sturr from 2 to 5, and steinholding at 5.
Sunday. Keg rolling and kids’ steinholding at noon, Guilty Pleasure on stage, and the Steinholding Finals at 3.
The lift. The $89 VIP package includes the SkyRide and an express line. The $41 VIP gets you a shirt, a mug and a beer, without the lift.

The SkyRide is the easy way to see the color from the top; our Hunter Mountain fall foliage guide lays out five places to watch it from around the mountain.

Mugs of lager lined up on a long wooden beer-hall table
Stand-in photo, not Hunter Mountain’s Oktoberfest. Photo: Bohdan Stocek / Unsplash

Three mountain towns, three free festivals, and none of them more than half an hour from the hot tub.

Belleayre and Windham, both free

Belleayre answers from Highmount with its own free festival, 10 to 5 both days, with free parking. The gondola costs extra, and the last one up leaves at 4:45. With the Catskills at peak foliage this week, time your ride for the late-afternoon light. Evil Genius plays Saturday and The 209s play Sunday, both from noon to 4. There is a stein holding contest at 1, a pie eating contest at 1:30 and a food truck village all day. Brews & Views VIP is $50 for a pint glass, a pour, a shirt, a gondola ride and a pretzel.

Between the two, Windham hands Main Street over to its 32nd Autumn Affair, Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 5: more than fifty vendors, hay wagon rides, axe throwing, chainsaw carving and live music. Admission is free, and so is parking at the Windham Mountain Club and around town.

Gear

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The SkyRide and the gondola both put you above the color with nothing to do but look. Bring something to look with.

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Kingston, Catskill and Roxbury

Kingston has two festivals at once. Field + Supply’s Fall MRKT fills Hutton Brickyards on the river Friday through Sunday, 10 to 6, with more than 250 makers and live music both days: Saints of Swing and the Brother Sal Blues Band on Saturday, Jack Grace and Muddy Ruckus on Sunday. The advance discount ended Thursday, so it’s $25 for one day, $35 for two and $45 for all three, and kids under 12 get in free. Parking on site is tight; free shuttles run Saturday and Sunday.

Uptown, the O+ Festival runs its music, art and wellness exchange all weekend on a by-donation wristband that gets you into everything. Saturday’s BlO+ck Party Street Fair fills Wall Street from 1 to 6 and keeps going after dark until 10, and Lucero plays Assembly at 9:30.

Shoppers at an outdoor farmers market stall piled with baskets of peaches and tomatoes
Stand-in photo, not any market in this guide. Photo: Jason Ng / Unsplash

Closer to the cabin, two quieter picks. The Catskill Farmers Market sets up on Water Street Sunday from 10 to 1, with three Sundays left in its season. And Roxbury hosts Fiddlers! 33: workshops Saturday from 11 to 2, then a jam, a potluck and a square dance until 5, with the concert Sunday from 3 to 6. Concert tickets run $12 to $28, and anyone 16 or under gets in free.

An hour out: Delhi and Chatham

An hour out in two directions, two more weekend-long gatherings run 10 to 5 both days. West over the mountains in Delhi, the Maple Shade Hootenanny brings Catskills farmers, makers and musicians together rain or shine: Andy Friedman and Bobby Curious & Edith on Saturday, a kids’ jam at 10:30 Sunday and the Wayside Cider Wagon variety shows. It’s $15 for adults and $5 for kids 5 and up at the door, and no dogs.

East across the river, the Hudson Berkshire Beverage Trail’s Columbia County Harvest Craft Festival fills the fairgrounds in Chatham with crafters, wineries, distilleries and bakeries, five bands across the weekend and a petting zoo Sunday from 12 to 4. Admission is listed at a sale price of $7 a day, $12 for the weekend or $20 for a family four-pack.

Hudson Valley, open through Monday

Fishkill Farms in Hopewell Junction runs its harvest weekends Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The corn maze is $5 a person by reservation, and apple picking and wagon rides are also by reservation. The cider bar opens at 11, music runs from noon to 4, and Sunday’s band is the Stoop Kidz Brass Band.

Bear Mountain’s Family Fall Fest runs Saturday through Monday, 11 to 5, with a craft brew garden, a makers fair, pedal boats and pierogies. Park free at Anthony Wayne and take the shuttle; the state park lots charge. Down the road in Stormville, the airport antique show and flea market runs 8 to 4 both days, rain or shine, free to get in and free to park.

On Saturday in Sleepy Hollow, costumed witches paddle the Hudson on boards at the SUP Witches Festival. Be on shore at Kingsland Point Park by 1 or 1:30 to see the launch. Spectators pay $8 in advance or $10 at the gate.

Route 214 has little to no cell service. Book Naumkeag’s timed tickets, the SUP Witches spectator pass and any Fishkill Farms reservation before you leave the cabin, and screenshot the confirmations.

Three hours out: Saratoga, the Berkshires, Cooperstown

The Saratoga Showcase of Homes opens its 13 houses for a second and final weekend, 10 to 4. A $25 ticket covers both weekends, kids under 12 are free, and the proceeds go to Rebuilding Together Saratoga County and Habitat for Humanity. On Sunday, Ballston Spa’s 24th “The Way We Were” car show fills downtown from 9 to 4. Up in Queensbury, West Mountain opens the first of three fall-festival weekends from 9 to 2. Admission is free; the scenic chairlift, hay wagon rides and treetop tours cost extra. Live music runs from 10 to 1, with beer tastings both days and a stein hoist on Sunday.

Cross into Massachusetts for the Berkshire Botanical Garden Harvest Festival in Stockbridge, 10 to 5 both days: more than ninety food and drink vendors, two stages, a hay maze, hayrides and a petting zoo, for $15 per adult with under-12s free. Stay into the evening for the Naumkeag Pumpkin Show down the road, where jack-o’-lanterns, mums and gourds light the historic gardens from 5 to 9. Tickets are timed and advance-only, with no sales at the gate: $32 for adults, $27 for Trustees members and $15 for kids 3 to 15.

Two glowing carved jack-o'-lanterns in the dark
Stand-in photo, not the Naumkeag Pumpkin Show. Photo: Beth Teutschmann / Unsplash

Back on the New York side, Ghent’s Hawthorne Valley Harvest Festival runs Saturday from 11 to 3 and is free, as it has been for more than 25 years: fresh-pressed cider, hay rides and a pie contest, with the silk marionette show a separate $5 ticket. In Cooperstown, the Ladies of Hyde Hall tour runs Saturday from 4 to 5, following the women who lived in the house through the 19th and early 20th centuries, for about $23 on Eventbrite. Hyde Hall’s Hyde & Shriek! candlelit ghost tours follow that evening: an hour each, about $28.50, and not for kids 10 and under. In the village, the Cooperstown Farmers Market runs on Pioneer Alley from 9 to 2, with produce, cheese, maple syrup and live music from 10 to noon.

Five hours out: Lake Placid and the Finger Lakes

Lake Placid doubles up. The Flaming Leaves Festival brings the US Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined National Championships to the Olympic Jumping Complex, with live music and food, gates 9 to 5: $10 for adults, $5 for juniors and seniors, and free for kids 6 and under. Saturday morning, the Lake Placid Classic, celebrating 55 years, starts the half marathon and 10K at 8 and the 5K at 8:10. In the southern Adirondacks, Thurman runs its fall festival and town-wide yard sale both days, with a quilt show on Saturday; maps are at Town Hall.

The Finger Lakes are about craft this weekend. The Greater Ithaca Art Trail opens the studios of 36 artists across Tompkins County, 11 to 5, for the first of two weekends. Cornell hosts a ranked Harvard team at Schoellkopf Field on Saturday at 1. On the Cayuga Wine Trail, Hosmer Winery in Ovid throws its free third annual Harvest Fest Saturday from 1 to 4, with live music, barbecue and tastings, and on Sunday Lucas Vineyards in Interlaken hosts Witches, Women & Wine from 11:30 to 4, with the Witches of the Water’s Edge dancing and a band from 1. Bristol Mountain in Canandaigua runs Fall Sky Rides over the color for $20, or $12 for the festival grounds alone, 11 to 5 both days. And in Middlesex, the Folk Art Guild’s open house and apple festival is free, 11 to 4: craft demos, a cider press you can help load, and alpacas.

Where to stay

Living room with a fireplace, a blue armchair and a big window at Clove Creek Cabin in Hunter, NY
Clove Creek Cabin, Hunter, NY.

Clove Creek Cabin sits between Hunter and Phoenicia, eleven minutes from the Oktoberfest and under half an hour from Belleayre and Windham. It has two bedrooms for up to four guests, an indoor fireplace, and a hot tub and sauna on the deck for when the steinholding’s done. Check dates for Clove Creek on Airbnb.

Blue Heron in Tannersville is a two-bedroom for up to four guests, about a five-minute walk from Tannersville’s restaurants and shops, with a fire pit, and pets are allowed. Check dates for Blue Heron on Airbnb.

Cabin comfort

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Steins at Hunter all afternoon, then a cold October night between the hot tub and the fire. Bring a throw for the walk back in.

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FAQ

When is Hunter Mountain Oktoberfest in 2026?

Colors in the Catskills runs its Authentic Oktoberfest weekends on October 3–4, October 10–11 and October 17–18, 2026. On October 10–11 it runs Saturday 11 to 6 and Sunday 11 to 5, with the Scenic SkyRide from 9.

Is Hunter Mountain Oktoberfest free?

Admission and parking are free, per Hunter Mountain. The SkyRide comes with the $89 VIP package; the $41 VIP includes a shirt, a mug and a beer without the lift.

Which festivals near the Catskills are free this weekend?

Belleayre’s Fall Festival, Windham’s Autumn Affair, Hunter Mountain’s Oktoberfest (admission), the Stormville Airport flea market, the Hawthorne Valley Harvest Festival and the Folk Art Guild’s apple festival are all free to enter. Rides, gondolas and food cost extra.

What is open on Monday, October 12?

Fishkill Farms’ harvest festival and Bear Mountain’s Family Fall Fest both run through Monday. Naumkeag’s Pumpkin Show is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

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