Corbin’s Octoberfest to be held Saturday

Downtown Corbin’s revised Octoberfest is scheduled for 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Saturday.

Downtown/Tourism Director Maggy Kriebel, who had initially expected about 40 vendors, said 70 vendors have signed up to participate.

“It is the simple fact that the vendors haven’t had any events this year. They are looking for something to do.” Kriebel said when asked about the level of interest.

Kriebel said Octoberfest will feature a wide variety of vendors, including artist from the Cumberland Arts Collective, a few downtown businesses, food vendors and several home-based businesses.

“There will also be some special sales at the brick and mortar businesses,” Kriebel said.

In an effort to maintain social distancing and other COVID–19 safety recommendations, Kriebel said the vendor booths will be spread out from Nibroc Park, a portion of First Street, along the sidewalks on Main Street to the tourism lot and Sanders Park.

“Most of the businesses in that area are closed on Saturday,” Kriebel said adding that efforts would be made so as not to impede them.

In addition, each vendor will have hand sanitizer available for use by the public.

When Kriebel was tasked with taking over Corbin Downtown in July, she had said she was considering eliminating Octoberfest and replacing it with a Taste of…event.

“We received feedback from the merchants and the community that they wanted Octoberfest to continue, so we made the decision to move forward,” Kriebel said.

The weather forecast for Saturday is a temperature around 70 degrees and a strong possibility of rain.

“Octoberfest would be cancelled in the event of rain,” Kriebel said.

More information about the event is available on the Downtown Corbin Facebook page.