This is our last weekend of above-average summer-like temperatures until Hurricane Matthew decides to ruin our fun, so enjoy all the leaf peeping, festivals and food and beer-wine pairings for your Columbus Day Weekend. 

Killer Road Trip: Bring Your Own Apples Free Cider Press

Friday, Oct. 7—Bangor

Want to make your own cider (hard or non-alcoholic) from fresh local apples, but don't have access to a cider press? Wouldn't it be cool if a local homebrew shop offered a free Bring-Your-Own-Apples cider pressing event this fall...? Central Street Farmhouse in Bangor is offering to press your apples for free from 2 to 8 p.m. The event takes place in the Pocket Park, right next to the store.

Taste of Thomaston

Saturday, Oct. 8—Thomaston

Here’s some tasty goodness. Knox Museum's wildly popular annual food and wine tasting festival is back, celebrating everything local, featuring 30+ signature bites and sips from Midcoast Maine's finest chefs, growers, vintners & brewers, cheese artisans, bakers, and more. The event rain or shine goes from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. $55 Museum Members/$75 General Admission/$125 VIP passes ($100 for Knox Museum Signature Society Members). FMI: Taste of Thomaston

Killer Road Trip: Swine and Stein Octoberfest

Saturday, Oct. 8—Gardiner

Get your porky fix with the 6th Annual Swine & Stein Octoberfest,  a trifecta of beer, food, and music. A beer tasting will showcase the incredible diversity and quality of Maine craft beers. Restaurants and local food vendors from Gardiner and across the state will serve up a variety of interesting culinary dishes featuring local pork along with other quality menu items. Adding to the festivities, a line-up of favorite and emerging Maine bands will entertain throughout the day, including Gunther Brown..11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. downtown Gardiner. $20 day of, $10 designated driver. FMI:
For tickets and other info, visit http://www.gardinermainstreet.org/events/swine-and-stein-oktoberfest/

Hope Orchard Fall Festival

Sunday, Oct. 9—Gardiner

Apple pie and hard cider lovers, this one’s for you. Fiber, yarn, candles, household ornamentals, fabric creations, & glasswork will be featured along with wood-fired pizza and harvest sandwiches will be for sale, provided by Uproot Pie Company and Washington General Store. Music on Sunday from noon to 2 p.m featuring Rosey and the Wayfaring Stranger.

Great Pumpkin Drop

Monday, Oct. 10—Damariscotta

Since this is an extended weekend, we’re including a Monday event which is sure to thrill the kiddos and the little kiddo inside you. Watch as  600-pound Atlantic giant pumpkins will be dropped from a 180-foot crane onto targets ranging from a local police department’s junked-cruiser to double-decker junked-cars stacked on top of one another! In the green-spirit of recycling, the splattered pumpkin pulp is gathered for eventual pig feed at a local farm, and the previously junked-cars are recycled as scrap metal. The renowned rock band “Nikki Hunt Band” will be performing from 1 to 4 p.m. FMI: mainepumpkinfest.com

Kay Stephens can be reached atnews@penbaypilot.com