1. How do you like those apples?
There are not one but two festivals happening 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 5 at Old Apple Tree Park, 112 Columbia Way, Vancouver: The Old Apple Tree Festival and Cascadia Food and Cider Festival. One festival celebrates the Northwest’s oldest apple tree, planted in 1826, with live music, tree-care workshops, Vancouver Land Bridge tours, cider pressing and apple tree cuttings. The other celebrates the Northwest’s edible bounty with a hard cider garden, food tastings, hand pies and artisan vendors. Both festivals offer free admission (although the cider garden charges $15 to taste 15 ciders). Attendees should bring their own apples and jugs to take home just-pressed cider; it takes about 13 pounds of apples to make one gallon. www.cityofvancouver.us/ufc/page/old-apple-tree-festival-0 or www.slowfoodcascadia.org
2. Sandhill cranes and soulful songs
BirdFest & Bluegrass on Oct. 5 celebrates the migratory return of sandhill cranes to the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge, where these majestic, red-capped birds pause on their way to wintering grounds in California. Events are in downtown Ridgefield as well as in the Carty Unit (28909 N. Main Ave.) and River S. Unit (1071 S. Hillhurst Rd.).The Friends of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge will host art and birding workshops, a Birders’ Marketplace with artisan vendors, sandhill crane tours, kayak tours, an Audubon bird show, food trucks and live bluegrass in venues around town, plus a bluegrass concert at noon in the Old Liberty Theater. Admission to the festival is free, although individual activities may have a fee. ridgefieldfriends.org/birdfest-bluegrass
3. Marzen, music and more
Every year, Northwood Public House and Brewing delivers an authentic, beerhall-style Oktoberfest to local aficionados of this celebration of German beer, food and music. The Northwood Oktoberfest at 1401 S.E. Rasmussen Blvd. in Battle Ground offers a triple oom-pah: a menu featuring bratwust-stuffed whole-roasted hog, plus sausages, schnitzels, pretzels and sauerkraut; frothy pints of imported Bavarian beer, as well as Northwood’s own Uncle Otto’s Marzen; and live music from the Festival Brass band (ja, with tubas!) and the San Francisco group, Those Darn Accordions. Admission is free from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 5 and 6, with a range of food and beer available to buy. Kids are welcome, too, and will enjoy coloring contests, face painting and balloon magic. northwoodpublichouse.com
4. Haute couture crime
Start the Halloween season with an old-fashioned murder mystery: Magenta Theater’s “Death in High Heels,” a play based on the 1941 novel, playing Oct. 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18 at 19 at 1108 Main St., Vancouver. In a high-end dress shop on London’s Regent Street, things begin to unravel when long-time employee Miss Doon is fatally poisoned by the same oxalic acid crystals used to clean hats. The ensuing murder inquiry looks to the fashion house’s other employees for a motive. The audience will enjoy piecing together the stray threads of this mystery — by turns humorous and poignant, and full of interesting historical tidbits — along with Inspector Charlesworth and Sergeant Wyler of the London police. Tickets are $20 in advance or $22 at the door. 360-635-4358 or magentatheater.com
