ELBERTA, Ala. — The Elberta Volunteer Fire Department is adding a new night to one of South Baldwin County’s oldest fall traditions. For the first time, the department will host Blocktober Fest, a Friday night kickoff party held the evening before the Elberta German Sausage Festival, stretching the celebration into what organizers are calling two days and one great weekend.
Blocktober Fest is set for Friday, Oct. 30, at Elberta Town Park in downtown Elberta. The German Sausage Festival follows the next morning, Saturday, Oct. 31, at the same park. Both events are free and open to the public.
What to expect Friday night
Blocktober Fest is designed as a relaxed evening for families and neighbors before the bigger Saturday crowds arrive. Plans call for:
- A beer tent
- Live music
- Food vendors
- Activities for children
Organizers are encouraging families to come out, grab dinner, let the kids play and settle in for a night of live entertainment. The goal, they said, is to bring the community together before the main festival weekend begins.
The name is a play on Oktoberfest, the famous autumn beer festival in Munich, Germany, and on the block-party feel the department wants for the evening. It is a natural fit for a town whose roots, and best-known festival, are German.
Saturday: the sausage festival tradition continues
The Saturday festival will keep the traditions that have drawn visitors to Elberta for decades. Attendees can expect German sausage dogs, vendors, live entertainment and family fun, and organizers say additional activities are planned as well.
In past years, the festival’s food lineup has gone well beyond sausage, with German-style stuffed cabbage, potato salad and goulash alongside Southern staples such as red beans and rice and barbecue sandwiches. Arts and crafts booths, baked goods, carnival rides and music ranging from polka and German songs to country have also been regular features.
At a glance
- Blocktober Fest: Friday, Oct. 30, Elberta Town Park, downtown Elberta
- Elberta German Sausage Festival: Saturday, Oct. 31, beginning in the morning, Elberta Town Park
- Admission: Free for both events
- Highlights: Beer tent, live music, food vendors and kids’ activities Friday; German sausage dogs, vendors, live entertainment and family activities Saturday
Because this year’s Saturday festival falls on Halloween, families may find themselves with a full day. Elberta Town Park is on Main Street in the center of town.
A first for a long-running fundraiser
The Elberta Volunteer Fire Department has organized the sausage festival for years as both a community fundraiser and a fall celebration. Adding Blocktober Fest marks the first time the event has expanded to a two-day format.
The festival dates to the mid-1970s, when it began as a way to raise money for the town’s volunteer firefighters. It has since grown into the town’s signature event and one of the better-known small-town festivals on the Alabama Gulf Coast. It is held twice a year, on the last weekend of March and the last weekend of October, and in recent years it has featured roughly 250 arts and crafts vendors. The October 2014 festival alone was estimated to have drawn about 40,000 visitors, many times the town’s population.
A new nonprofit partner
The festival is also in the middle of an organizational change. At the close of the spring festival in March 2026, organizers announced that beginning with the October event, the festival would become part of Elberta Community Partners, a newly formed nonprofit whose board is the same as the festival board.
The reason is tied to Elberta’s growth. With new subdivisions going up and fire calls increasing, the fire department now has paid staff, which makes it eligible for public safety grants but, as a municipal entity, limits its ability to raise money on its own. Organizers said at the time that the festival would continue to support the fire department, along with other local nonprofits, and that the new organization also plans benevolence efforts, additional fundraisers and beautification projects. Seth Fuller, the board’s chairman, said then that the nonprofit is separate from the town government.
The announcement in March also previewed plans for a block-party-style event on the night before the October festival, the idea that has now become Blocktober Fest.
A town built by German settlers
The sausage festival’s theme reflects Elberta’s history. The town was settled in the early 20th century through the Baldwin County Colonization Company, a Chicago-based land company organized in 1903 that marketed South Baldwin County farmland to German immigrant families who had first settled in the Midwest. The first settlers arrived in 1904, drawn by advertisements promising rich soil and a climate suited to farming year-round.
The company laid out roads along section lines and divided land into square farm plots, giving early Elberta the look of a Midwestern farm community more than a Deep South town. The settlers established Catholic and Lutheran congregations within a few years of arriving, and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church continued to offer German-language services until 1976. The State Bank of Elberta was incorporated in 1922, and residents voted to incorporate the town on Dec. 9, 1952.
That heritage still shows up in the town’s identity, and the sausage festival is its most visible celebration.
A growing community
Elberta sits on U.S. 98 in southern Baldwin County, about 5 miles east of Foley and about 10 miles west of Lillian near the Florida state line. It is part of the fast-growing Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolitan area.
The town’s population reflects that growth. The 2020 census counted 1,974 residents, up from 1,498 in 2010 and 552 in 2000. That growth, and the rising number of emergency calls that comes with it, is part of why the fire department has changed how it operates and why community fundraisers like the festival remain important.
Why the festival matters to the fire department
In small towns across Alabama, volunteer and combination fire departments depend on community fundraising to supplement public funding. Money raised at events like the sausage festival can help pay for equipment, training, protective gear and the everyday costs of keeping trucks ready to respond. For residents, buying a sausage dog or browsing the vendor booths has long been an easy way to support the people who answer their emergency calls.
Blocktober Fest gives the community one more evening to do that, while adding a family-friendly night out to the calendar.
Planning your visit
- Arrive early on Saturday. The festival has historically drawn large crowds, so allow extra time for parking and walking in.
- Bring the kids Friday. Blocktober Fest is built around families, with activities planned for children while adults enjoy dinner and music.
- Check for updates. Organizers say additional activities are planned for Saturday, and details on music lineups and vendors are typically announced closer to the festival.
- Watch the weather. Outdoor events can be affected by fall weather on the Gulf Coast, so check the forecast before heading out.
Both Blocktober Fest on Oct. 30 and the Elberta German Sausage Festival on Oct. 31 will take place at Elberta Town Park. Admission to both is free.
