Handcrafted Octoberfest Brings 100 Makers, Craft Beer, and a Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off to Rhinebeck

October 10–11, 10am–5pm | Rhinebeck, NY

Handcrafted Octoberfest returns to the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck this weekend for its seventh year. It’s a two-day juried craft show with more than 100 exhibitors across ten categories of handmade work, alongside craft beer, regional wine and spirits, food, and activities.

The show also features a bunch of demonstrations. Woodworkers, fiber spinners, leather smiths, and jewelers work at the fairgrounds throughout the weekend, and a master pumpkin carver is on site. For kids there’s a craft tent where they can paint pumpkins, play freely with art materials, or make a seasonal project. Elsewhere on the grounds are a petting zoo, horse-drawn carriage rides, and a weigh-off of giant pumpkins.

The show is produced by Quail Hollow Events, a family business with its roots in woodworking. Brothers Neil and Scott Rubinstein, two woodworkers who had spent years traveling the craft-show circuit, started the Woodstock Art & Crafts Fair in 1981. The company requires every exhibitor to be the maker of the work and to be present, which is how the demonstrations became a fixture.

Quail Hollow added Handcrafted Octoberfest in 2019 as a fall counterpart at Rhinebeck. The fairgrounds is the home of the Dutchess County Fair, which has run since 1842.

Dutchess County Fairgrounds, 6636 Route 9, Rhinebeck, NY. Tickets, exhibitor list, and event map at quailhollow.com.