Don’t leave the valley this weekend, because you can finally put those lederhosen to good use – the long-overdue local celebration of Oktoberfest is finally happening.

On Saturday, October 5th, downtown Invermere will be hosting Oktoberfest for the first time. With a new position created at the District of Invermere, events co-ordinator Theresa Wood began organizing Oktoberfest shortly after taking the post over the summer, and said she expects the inaugural event to become annual.

“Oktoberfest takes a lot of manpower to put on and there was nobody in this position before,” she told The Valley Echo.

Sausages from Konig’s Meat and Sausage Company will be grilled up all day by Invermere Legion members, while several downtown businesses will be decorating for the event, “in particular The Trading Post; they have a lot of German mustards and foods,” said Ms. Wood.

Local vendors will be a part of the celebration and live music will be provided by local musicians Blind Lemon.

“There’s a lot of children’s entertainment,” added Ms. Wood. “There will be several bouncy castles and blow-up games, and there will be the mini putt downtown which will be run by the Summit Youth Centre.”

“Copper City Salloon is going to have the adult portion, and they open at noon,” she said.