Food & Fun: Happenings Oct. 24-31 include Oktoberfest in Suntree, Halloween events, music
Get ready to polka
Oktoberfest, courtesy of Advent Lutheran Church, is polka-intensive, for starters.
The free event for families, scheduled from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Suntree church, also includes kiddie games, bounce house, water slide, magician, face painting, arts and crafts vendors, free hot dogs and snow cones for children 10 and younger, plus a la carte German food and beer. From noon until 2 p.m., a plated German meal will be served for $10 for adults and $4 for children 5 to 10.
Oompah band Festspiele Five provides the polka music, with additional entertainment by German-born accordionist Klaus Kolb.
Advent Lutheran is at 7550 N. Wickham Road. For more information, call 321-259-8515 or visit AdventBrevard.org.
Definitely a laughing matter
Grab a slice of pizza and get ready to enjoy the silly antics of the Fearless Improv Brigade, aka FIB, which descends upon the private dining room at Pizza Gallery & Grill for shows at 5:30 and 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 25.
The Fearless always encourage audience participation.
According to Fearless troupe member Mike Mellen, the history of the Improv Brigade began with an improvisational acting class offered by Surfside Playhouse in the summer of 2013, and taught by SAK Theatre alum Mario Busacca.
What had started out as “We’re just here to learn some new techniques.” turned into “Let’s do a show!” said Mellen.
The group is still together more than five years later.
The Surfside-based group offers beginning and intermediate classes, usually in 10-week sessions with a showcase performance to cap things off.
Even though FIB membership has changed as participants come and go, the spirit of having fun while honing a craft has remained, which Mellen credit to FIB Grand Poobah Busacca.
“He is constantly taking classes to improve his knowledge and skills, and passes that on to the rest of us,” said Mellen.
“We have fun while learning new things and getting to perform for the public. Isn’t that special enough?”
For more on FIB, see fearlessimprov.org.
Rolling with music on the river
Tomorrow’s musical stars are here to be heard today at “Music on the River,” the Cocoa Beach concert series that showcases rising stars.
Riverside Presbyterian, aka the Music Church, will host these talented young artists at 3:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 28, for a free concert that features Brevard's Got Music Talent Winner, pianist Nailah Clarke; violist Hannah Langenbach; violinist Adelle Patin; and Isaac Moorman, who will perform on both piano and cello. Isaac, 16, was a prize winner in the Sonatina-Sonata Competition at St. Petersburg College, The Young Artist Competition, American Protégé Piano Competition and Brevard’s Got Talent Competition. In 2011, he participated in The Washington International Piano Festival and was selected to perform at The Kennedy Center.
Space Coast Symphony Concertmaster Carey Moorman, and father of Isaac Moorman, will join the students in a performance of Verdi's only surviving chamber music work, “String Quartet in E minor.”
Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10. The event is a partnership between Riverside Presbyterian Church, the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra and the Creative Arts Foundation of Brevard, dedicated to supporting exceptionally talented young performers through grants, tuition assistance and performance opportunities
Riverside Presbyterian is at 3400 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach.
For more information, call 321-604-0103 or visit CAFOB.org.
Flaunting flutes
Former Space Shuttle astronaut Winston Scott will assist the 40-member Space Coast Flute Orchestra to launch into “A Galaxy of Flutes,” the orchestra’s free concert at 3 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 28, at Suntree United Methodist Church, 7400 N. Wickham Road.
The out-of-this-world concert begins with the appropriate fanfare of Stanley Kubrick's “2001: A Space Odyssey” before heading for the "Jupiter" movement from “The Planets” by Gustav Holst and Debussy’s "Claire de Lune.”
The program also includes two contemporary works, "O Northern Star" and "Adventures in Space."
A flute orchestra is a unique musical beast that blends the sounds from the tiny piccolo to the exotic alto, bass and contrabass members of the flute family. The Space Coast Flute Orchestra is one of the world’s largest, regularly rehearsed flute orchestras.
Admission is free and no tickets are required.
For more information, call 321-385-7236 or visit SCFO.org.
Last call
Unlike Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival, which lasts longer and longer each year, the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic is only a two-day event, and those two days are just about here.
The 2018 iteration of the popular graze fest is Friday and Saturday, Oct. 26-27, and features plenty to say “mahalo” about, particularly the brand-new “The Pig and the Poke.” The Hawaiian luau-themed area on the resort’s private beach will include island favorites such as Kalua pork and tuna poke. Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort Executive Chef Robert Ciborowski drew upon his years of living and working in Kapalua, Hawaii, as inspiration for the dishes.
In addition to the luau area, the event also offers other themed areas featuring specialty cuisines in immersive atmospheres. Guests can enjoy unlimited tastings at more than 60 stations that showcase culinary selections from the hotel’s 17 award-winning restaurants and wine from more than 30 wineries, all set amidst the Disney-worthy backdrop of live entertainment on the scenic causeway between the two hotels.
Desserts will again be served by world-champion pastry chef Laurent Branlard.
For the full menu, see SwanDolphinFoodandWineClassic.com, where you can also purchase tickets and overnight packages.
Tickets start at $127.
Halloween happenings
Here are a couple of ideas for ghoulish pursuits:
• The Haunted Trail at Kiwanis Island Park Community Center on Merritt Island is open from 7:30 until 10:30 p.m. Oct. 19 and 20 and 26 and 27. The trail features creepy critters such as clowns. Ticket are $10 for ages 13 and older and $5 for 12 and younger. Buy at door. Call 321-412-1340.
• Take a Halloween Costume Cruise out of Fishlips Waterfront Bar & Grill in Port Canaveral at 8:30 p.m., Oct. 27. Costume up for an evening of food and dancing until midnight. Tickets are $35 to $79, available at promoterjay.com.
• Boo at the Zoo is back with more than 30 treat stations from 5:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. weekend evenings until Oct. 28. There’s a haunted house, the Boo Choo Train, games, costume contests and a DJ. Tickets run $12 to $14 and are available at brevardzoo.org.
• Titusville Playhouse brings back Brad, Janet and Dr. Frank N Furter for “The Rocky Horror Show” on weekends from Friday, Oct. 19, to Sunday, Oct. 28. Show times run from matinees to midnight options. Tickets are $25 to $29. Buy them at titusvilleplayhouse.com.