The official start of Oktoberfest this year is September 16 as the fairgrounds known as Theresienwiese in the German metropolis of Munich becomes party central with an abundance of beer and pretzels being consumed. This world-famous gathering goes on until October 3 while celebrating both the fall season and Bavarian culture. Fall is also a big part of the culture around New England and with it comes a few breweries who are doing their own version of Oktoberfest. One of them is the Proclamation Ale Company, which is located on 298 Kilvert Street in Warwick. For the third straight year, they’re going to be putting on ‘Proctoberfest’ a day after Oktoberfest’s official start on September 17 with it all starting at 12 noon.

Along with some special brews, there will be plenty of brats and pretzels to go around. There will be some live music happening as well, which is bound to get some people dancing and enjoying themselves.

“In addition to our Märzen, Guggenmusik, this year we decided to add a Festbier to the lineup, aptly named Hootenanny, which means a social gathering with music and dancing,” Proclamation Owner & Creative Director Lori Witham says about the event. “As always, in traditional guggenmusik style, we will have the aliens from Big Nazo and the Providence Drum Troupe dancing and creating sufficiently loud, weird, and other-worldly music to keep away the spirits of winter. Due to the success of last year's performance, our brewer Bruce Hutchings will again break out his bagpipes as the opening act! Saugy is going to fill you up with brats and soft pretzels so come hungry!”

‘Proctoberfest’ is going to be taking place both indoors and outdoors in the brewery’s taproom and on the patio. Hutchings is going to be playing the bagpipes at 2:30 p.m. with both Big Nazo and the Providence Drum Troupe performing in collaborative fashion at 4.p.m. It should be really cool seeing what these artistic entities can do together in an ideal environment. The event is also family friendly and free to the public so feel free to bring the kids. Along with both featured beers, there are plenty of others to indulge in and there’s an abundance of old school arcade games to play as well.

Rhode Island is very lucky to have so many great breweries within it and Proclamation is definitely part of that exclusive group. It’s a location that’s both unique and inviting with a cool vibe being felt right when you arrive

If you spend your Sunday afternoon at ‘‘Proctoberfest’, that’s something you should expect along with having an excellent time. For the sake of a disclaimer, you obviously have to be over the age of 21 to have one of Proclamation’s beers either on tap or from a can. If you don’t drink alcohol or you’re underage but you’re still looking for something to do, show up anyway because there will be plenty of fun to be had.