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Community Corner

Autumn's Abundance

The City of Bowie hosted its annual Oktoberfest at the Bowie Farmers Market where vendors sold produce and baked goods while children painted pumpkins and stuffed scarecrows.

October is the month where there is a fresh breeze in the air, trees are blossoming in shades of yellow, red, and orange, and harvest is at its peak. The parking lot of Bowie High School was packed this past Sunday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. The City of Bowie sponsored its annual Oktoberfest at the Bowie Framer's Market giving people opportunities to get fresh harvest while participating in Halloween activities.

On that beautiful autumn day, large tents, fresh food, and plenty of people came out to celebrate the fall and the season of harvest and Halloween fun. Vendors were selling fresh bread, vegetables, fruits, live crabs, barbeque, and for those that have a sweet tooth, cookies and brownies.

Special Events Coordinator for the City of Bowie, Matt Corley has been coordinating the "Octoberfest" for the past 10 years every 4th Saturday of October. This event was open to anyone who wanted to participate. Besides purchasing produce, there were free scarecrow making and free pumpkin making available. Participants had to supply a long-sleeved shirt and trousers, and the pumpkins were available for purchase. Jim Unger, Market Manager believes when special events take place at Bowie Farmer's Market it enhances the markets production. He says "there is a 25% increase in business for the vendors when the City of Bowie has an event."

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Not only was this year's Oktoberfest welcomed with warm weather, but it also attracted a local Girl Scout troop, Brownie Troop 2364 and their sister troop, Daisy Troop 2901. This was the troop's first event and there objective for the troop were to work on eating right and staying healthy. The 13 girls not only used this day for Halloween fun, but also as a learning experience. They learned how to read nutrition labels, tasted 8 different apples, and two types of tomatoes.

Troop leaders, Stacy Watkins and Stefanie Althoff were pleased with the Oktoberfest being their first event with their troop. "The kids tried so many things and loved it," said Stefanie Althoff. They also were impressed with the vendors and there services, especially how they made the troop feel welcomed by providing them with a discount on pumpkins for the girls to paint. Stacy Watkins said, "Our troop isn't that big but we had a great turnout and a good time. The kids learned and had fun."

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The City of Bowie will continue to host events for the upcoming year for the community. They have, on the first Sunday in July, a community day where participants can receive free snow cones. On the second Sunday of August, there was a corn roasting day provided by the vendors. Also, on the third Sunday in September there was a farm animal petting zoo. We are looking forward to City of Bowie events in the future!

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