Accokeek, MD – Each year, community members from across Prince George’s County and the surrounding area have the chance to enjoy fall festivities at Hard Bargain Farm. The Alice Ferguson Foundation opened its doors again last Saturday, October 7, for its 35th annual Oktoberfest at its environmental campus in Accokeek, Maryland. One of the area’s most popular fall activities, this year’s Oktoberfest featured authentic Bavarian dances, traditional Alpine music, German food and dessert, hay wagon rides to the Potomac River, visits with barnyard animals and the beautiful autumn landscape of the 330-acre farm.
“For three and a half decades, this autumn tradition had brought the community together to celebrate the season and each other,” said Lori Arguelles, Alice Ferguson Foundation’s President and CEO. “It’s our honor and pleasure to welcome everyone to this beautiful slice of autumn festivities at the heart of Piscataway National Park.”
The Washington, D.C.-based Bavarian dance group Alt Washingtonia Schuhplattlers performed traditional dances and offered lively singalongs throughout the day. Children met the farm’s barnyard animals, squeezed apple cider with an old-fashioned cider press, and enjoyed hands-on arts and crafts in the Foundation’s historic cabin.
For the third year in a row, celebrations took place on the lawn of the Foundation’s environmental education center, the first net zero “Living Building” in Maryland and one of only 15 such certified buildings in the world.
All proceeds from the event benefited Foundation’s core programs, which provide environmental education programs to more than 10,000 students each year, as well as litter and trash prevention and education outreach efforts across Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
The event was supported by MGM National Harbor, Pepco, Old Line Bank, SMECO, Eagle Hill, Eight O’Clock Coffee, MOM’s Organic Market, TATA, Walton, Buck Distributing, Cloverland Stables LLC, ColorNet Printing, Greater Prince George’s County Business Roundtable, G.S. Proctor & Associates, Mayson-Dixon Strategic Consulting, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, Prince George’s Councilmembers Mel Franklin, Andrea C. Harrison, Mary Lehman, Karen Toles and Todd Turner, as well as Rodgers Consulting, Washington Gas, and Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.
The Alice Ferguson Foundation’s educational programs unite students, educators, park rangers, communities, regional organizations, and government agencies throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to promote the environmental sustainability of the Potomac River watershed.