2nd Grasstober Fest draws a crowd
Published 3:35 pm Monday, October 2, 2023
Highland Tiger kicked off Grasstober Fest early Saturday afternoon. The event featured numerous musical acts as well as plenty of food and craft vendors to visit. (Photo by Warren Taylor)
The event featured inflatables and face painting for younger attendees. (Photo by Warren Taylor)
Attendees could purchase anything from homemade soap to candy. (Photo by Warren Taylor)
Some of the jewelry sold by Tara Modjeski of Treehouse Goods. (Photo by Warren Taylor)
Former mayor "candidate" Mater the goat made an appearance to greet guests and sample beer. (Photo by Warren Taylor)
Some festival-goers were more colorful than others. (Photo by Warren Taylor)
(Photo by Warren Taylor)
(Photo by Warren Taylor)
(Photo by Warren Taylor)
(Photo by Warren Taylor)
(Photo by Warren Taylor)
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With clear skies and pleasant temperatures, Saturday was a good time to hear some tunes in downtown Winchester.
The second annual Grasstober took place at Many Friends Parklet from the early afternoon hours until after dark with a lineup that included Highland Tiger, Matt and Tom Fassas, the Reedy River String Band and the Rumpke Mountain Boys.
Even early on, festival organizers were pleased with the turnout.
“It is fantastic,” said Adam Kidd of DAM Holdings. “And even here in the first few hours, we can already see we are in so much better fo a spot than we were in last year. We have smiling faces, full bellies and full glasses. It is exactly what we wanted: a good community event for everybody.”
Kidd, whose company was one of the event sponsors, said that the event was meant to put a local spin on a beloved tradition from Germany.
“Grasstober Fest is our fun spin on a Winchester version of Oktoberfest. We have Bluegrass music; we have beer, and we have all the normal staples of an Oktoberfest but with a banjo twang to it,” Kidd explained.
And the unique take on the fall tradition brought folks from wide and far to Winchester.
Tosha Williamson, her husband and their children traveled from Georgetown to the festival and were impressed.
“It is really nice. The kids have stopped by every single booth – we have four kids – and somebody has bought something from each of them,” Williamson said.
Moriah Caples was in town for the weekend, visiting from the San Francisco area, and echoed Williamson’s sentiments.
“It is really cute!” Caples said. “I love the ‘Winchester Doesn’t Suck’ sweatshirts at the Grasstober booth.”
Downtown Winchester also caught Caples’ eye.
“It is a super cute little downtown,” Caples said. “We ate at Loma’s last night…Then we just walked through downtown and window-shopped at the vintage shops. I’m hoping some of them are going to be open a little bit later this afternoon.”
Showing off downtown was one of the organizer’s aims and was why the festival venue moved from its original location on Broadway Street.
“We did not have to close any main roads to do this event,” Kidd said. “Our goal this year was to allow the businesses on the main street to still have patrons come and go.”
The festival also drew vendors from all over the region, though the number was kept purposely small.
“We have ten craft vendors here. We wanted to make sure that everybody made money today, so we limited ourselves,” Kidd said.
Even with the smaller number of booths, festival attendees had a diverse array of items to purchase.
Snowanna Stephenson from Lincoln County sold her homemade sweets, which have an interesting confectionery creation process.
“My business is called Freeze Dried Candy by Snowanna. I remove the water with an extreme vacuum in a freeze-drying machine,” Stephenson said. “Under the vacuum, the candy pops up really large and the water is removed. Instead of being gummy and chewy, it is crunchy, crispy and airy.”
Among Stephenson’s offerings were spins on popular candy such as Skittles and a season favorite in candy corn.
The freeze-dry process gives Stephenson’s candy an edge over the retail version.
“The flavor is much more intense, and it is very to eat. It is not going to bog you down or make you feel like you have just eaten a ton of candy,” she said.
With traditional Kentucky folk music filling the air, one could also find crafts using updated versions of folk crafting methods, such as the goods offered by Tara Modjeski of Treehouse Goods.
Modjeski, who hails from Fayette County, sells wire-wrapped crystal jewelry and crystals, and she also sells hand-crafted soap and learned the process from her sister.
“It is the cold process method. I melt olive and coconut oil together, and then I mix lye and water. Then, I use a big industrial-sized immersion blender and mix those things together until they have the consistency of cake batter. Then I pour them into molds, it hardens for 24 hours, then I cut it and let it cure for eight weeks,” Modjeski said.
When asked why she enjoyed Grasstober Fest, Modjeski indicated it was the freshness of the music that made the event stand out.
“I love the music. I think I’ve heard the same bands over and over again in Lexington, so I am refreshed to hear new sounds.”
