Weekend Events

It’s that time of year…

By Laura Perry

Need to figure out what you’re going to be for Halloween and your biker chick costume really didn’t turn out that great last year? This weekend is full of ideas—you could be a German bar maid and head on over to Fort Gordon for Oktoberfest, or dress up as Peter Pan along with the Columbia County Ballet, or even dig out your Avengers costume, and fit right in at the Aiken Public Library. Take advantage of the great stuff to do this weekend, and even get some good ideas for Halloween.

Friday, October 12th
Oktoberfest
4:00 – 11:00
Fort Gordon Barton Field
Wear your short shoes – armband prices are $10 for those under 48 inches and $20 fpr those over 48 inches. Oktoberfest includes a carnival and vendor village as well as nighttime entertainment with Jerry Goodman and the Gootman Sauerkraut Band, Alpenlander and the German Friendship Dancers. Oktoberfest lasts all weekend. For more information, call 706-791-6779 or visit
/oktoberfest2012.

80’s Flashback Fall Fest featuring Eddie Money and Starship
5:00 (gates open)/ 7:00 (music starts)
Lady Antebellum Pavilion at Evans Towne Center Park
$30- advance tickets/ $35- at gate (children 5 and under are free) / $45- VIP/ $5- parking fee
When you come out to hear your favorites like “Two Tickets to Paradise” and ‘We Built this City on Rock and Roll,” remember to bring blankets or chairs—since the venue is a park, seats aren’t provided. But don’t bring pets or your own food and beverages – vendors will be at the park and pets are not allowed during concerts.
For further information, call the Evans Towne Center Park box office at 706-312-7192.

Freaky Friday
6:00 – 1:00 a.m.
Old Richmond Academy (at Telfair Street)
Tonight, Friends with Benefits (www.fwbfund.com) is holding a fundraising concert with three bands, the Futurbirds, Mamas Love, and Funk You. The gates open at 5:00 and tickets are $20, general admission or $50, V.I.P. seats.

Saturday, October 13th
Poetry Workshop
10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Headquarters Branch Library
Lucinda Clark, who leads this poetry workshop, has organized a local poetry contest, “Poetry Matters,” held in conjunction with National Poetry Month, in April. Mrs. Clark lives in Martinez with her husband and two children. For further information, call 706-821-2600 or go to www.ecgrl.org.

Seventh Annual CoCo Culinary and Wine Festival
1-4 p.m.
Savannah Rapids Pavilion
For those 21 and older, this event includes food samples, more than 200 wines, imported beers, live jazz, door prizes and more.
Visit www.csrawinefestival.com.

“The Avengers”
2:00 – 4:30 p.m.
Aiken Public Library
Come over to the Aiken Public library to see Marvel’s “The Avengers,” and get a big dose of Super Hero action with the Incredible Hulk, Thor, the Iron Man, Captain America, Haweye and Black Widow. Call 803-642-2023 or visit www.abbe-lib.org.

“Peter Pan”
7:00 p.m.
Imperial Theater
The Columbia County Ballet invites you to join Peter and Tinkerbell on this trip to Neverland. Tickets range from $10 to $28. Call 706-722-8341 or go to www.imperialtheatre.com for more information.

Sunday, October 14th

Building Up for the Build, a Women Build Kitchen Tour
1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Downtown Aiken
This tour of homes puts the spotlight on kitchen design and décor with eight homes in downtown Aiken. Tickets are $18 in advance and $20- day of. Call 803-642-9295 or visit www.aikenkitchentour.com.

Need to figure out what you’re going to be for Halloween and your biker chick costume really didn’t turn out that great last year? This weekend is full of ideas—you could be a German bar maid and head on over to Fort Gordon for Oktoberfest, or dress up as Peter Pan along with the Columbia County Ballet, or even dig out your Avengers costume, and fit right in at the Aiken Public Library. Take advantage of the great stuff to do this weekend, and even get some good ideas for Halloween.

Do your Friends have Benefits? Find both on Freaky Friday

For native Augustans George Claussen, 26, and Peter Menk, 25, the name of the game is to make our city a fun place to be by taking advantage of what our community has to offer, and bettering Augusta in return. Their Friends with Benefits Fund (www.fwbfund.com) hosts benefit concerts in order to raise money for our local non-profits.

“The only way to get our generation involved in the community is through music,” says Claussen. “And that’s also something that pulls generations together.”

Tonight at the Old Richmond Academy, Friends with Benefits has put together “Freaky Friday,” a concert with three bands—the Futurebirds, Mamas Love and Funk You. Funds from this event benefit the American Red Cross of Augusta as well as Kids Restart, an Augusta non-profit that provides support services to the children and families separated as a result of child neglect or abuse charges. So far, they have 410 people on Facebook confirmed to attend Freaky Friday.

“We really hope we can get a thousand,” says Claussen. “In Augusta, a lot of people buy tickets at the door, so we know we’ll have more.” With such a great mission, Friends with Benefits is just getting started. Claussen and Menk’s first foray into the fundraising world was with the creation of the Birdies and Bogeys Benefit, which was held on the Thursday during Masters Week. It was a sold-out event.

In June, Friends with Benefits put together the “Rockin’ for Peebles” event for Scott Peebles, former candidate for Sherriff. In August, the group worked with downtown bar owner Coco Rubio to do the “Get Down Downtown” event, in response to the shooting after July’s First Friday event.

“We call it a movement. We’re trying to help out Augusta,” says Claussen. “We’re trying to get good music coming to town and do it for a good cause. It’s not that we’re really doing anything different, but I like what Kurt Cobain said – we have a generation that is looking for something to get behind and follow.”

Friends with Benefits aims to have four main benefit concerts throughout the year. Along with tonight’s Freaky Friday, the group is making Get Down Downtown an annual event. For December, the group is looking into planning an event with Sacred Heart and they will again put together a Birdies and Bogies benefit concert in the Spring.

In order to pinpoint the charities that are the best-fit for Friends with Benefits, Claussen says that they will be starting an application process. Augusta is one of the largest per capita for non-profits for anywhere in the country.

“If people are travelling out of town to see concerts and spending their money elsewhere, it makes sense to do what we can do to keep them here, spending their money to help Augusta out.”

says Friends with Benefits kills two birds with one stone – provides events to keep Augustans in town and, in turn, funds the groups that strive to better the C.S.R.A.You Might Also Like: