Fall is the time of year that makes me really want to jump in the car and head to a fall festival. Saturday my wife were in a mood to do just that. Our options were limitless, but the festivals that interested us most were the Apple Butter Festival in White Bluff and Oktoberfest in Clarksville. Amy & I have never been to White Bluff. We liked the idea of seeing apple butter being made and the bluegrass, but the festival was only from 9-3 at the Church of God of the Prophecy, which made us wonder what we’d be getting into. We’d been to Clarksville before- kinda. We’ve stopped at the very charming Beech Haven Winery for the Jazz on the Lawn series that they have each fall. The wine was good, but does cajun music count as jazz? Not in my book. We also took the main drag into to town in search of Dunkin Donuts (that was before Nashville had any of their own) and another time we stopped at Starbucks as we were on our way to Evansville.

I chose Clarksville, because I figured if the festival was a bust there’d be other tourist kinds of things to see and do there instead. We headed up around 11- stopping for a late breakfast along the way. We made good time and headed downtown. I’d only seen pictures of downtown Clarksville, but I thought it looked pretty charming. Indeed it was, but it was void of people. I wondered aloud, “Where is everyone?” The main street showed no signs of a festival. I was very confused. We got out of our car and decided to walk around a bit to see what the downtown had to offer: not much in the way of businesses being open. Only a couple of shops and restaurants were open and again no signs of a German Oktoberfest. We found a lady sitting in the shade looking out over the river. I stopped to ask her where the festival was.

“Oh! The Oktoberfest is out at the fairgrounds. Are you familiar with Clarksville?” she asked. When we said no, she gave us directions. It wasn’t far. When we reached the fairgrounds we found a sign that said, “Oktoberfest Entrance” with an arrow. “Praise the Lord. We’ve found it.” Or so we thought. We saw tons of cars and tons of people. Then Amy asked, “Where are all the vendors?” We drove around a big loop to our right. It was Pee-Wee football games galore. Hundreds of kids suited up with parents cheering them to victory. Some of them even had their own cheerleaders with skirts and pom-poms and everything. We left that loop and figured they must be on the other side of the fairgrounds. So we took the left loop and it was EXACTLY the same. There were no vendors. There was no Oktoberfest. Only Pee-Wee football and plenty of it.

Disappointed we drove home from Clarksville- vowing never to bother with it again. I was really bummed, but then I remembered- This is why Amy & I prefer traveling to places East of Nashville. For us, we’re just more at home with the way of life, the scenery and the pace as we head east on 40.

I’m still in the mood to see a Fall Festival or visit some cool place this season. If you know of anything, preferably EAST of Nashville, please let me know.