Weekend plans: Glenville Oktoberfest and Adirondack Balloon Festival among top picks

PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Miller

FILE - People lift off in their hot air balloons during the kick-off event for the 47th annual Adirondack Balloon Festival in 2019.

WEEKEND PLANS – There’s no shortage of things to do in the Capital Region, whether you’re looking for live music, films, theater, games or festivals.

If you’re in need of a few ideas for your weekend plans, we’ve rounded up a few of the best bets from around the area.

Here’s a look at what’s going on:
Up, up and away
The 49th Annual Adirondack Balloon Festival continues Friday at the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Queensbury with dozens of balloons, including special shapes, set to launch after 5 p.m.
Additional balloon launches are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday and the popular “Lighting Up the Night” moonglow event will take place at 8 p.m.
This year’s special shapes are highlighted by a Tasmanian devil-style balloon. “Taz” makes his debut this year and joins “Sunny Boy,” “Mr. Snowman,” “Pandy the Panda Bear” and a lion balloon. For more information visit adirondackballoonfest.org.

Jack-o’-lanterns galore
Hollowed Harvest returns to the Altamont Fairgrounds on Friday, providing a not-so-scary way to get into the Halloween spirit. The fairgrounds will feature 7,000-lit jack-o’-lanterns, creating landscapes and large-than-life displays. Some displays reach three stories tall and span more than 60 feet in length.
Organized by BOLD Media, the walk-through event opens at 7 p.m. on Friday and runs Thursday to Sunday each week through Halloween, with additional dates added around Halloween.
Tickets are available only online at hollowedharvest.com/altamont-ny. General admission is $16 for kids and $20 for adults. Kids ages 3 and under get in for free.

College football squads at home
Two area college football teams whose seasons have gone very differently thus far in 2022 will both be at home Saturday afternoon.
Union, which is seeking to complete a 4-0 run through its non-conference schedule, hosts Utica at 1 p.m. at Frank Bailey Field. The last time the Dutchmen were at home, they scored the second-most points in a single game in the program’s history, beating Worcester State 76-7.
At 3:30 p.m., UAlbany will attempt to get its first win of 2022 as the Great Danes host Central Connecticut State at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium. It’s a rematch from UAlbany’s first-ever NCAA FCS playoff victory in 2019.

‘Munich on the Mohawk’
Glenville Oktoberfest brings together German food, beer, dancing and games on Saturday at Ma’alwyck Park. From noon to 9 p.m. the park will feature two beer gardens, German food supplied by the German/American Club of Albany and live music from four bands, including Gregory and the Brauhaus Band from Albany, Herbie and His Accord-a-Tones from Albany, Bratwurst Boys from Long Island, and Roxy and The Rollers.
There will also be two competitions and twelve dancers from HSV Bavaria Schuhplattler Dancers, a traditional German dance group, will perform. For more information visit glenvilleoktoberfest.com.

Live music, visual art and more
Art on Lark returns to downtown Albany from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The street fair celebrates local artists, small businesses and musicians. Lark Street (between Madison and State) will be closed to traffic and instead, painters, photographers, jewelers, sculptors and other artists will set up booths featuring their works.
The music lineup includes outlaw-country band Brule County Bad Boys, the psychedelic-experimental T.V. Doctors, Hudson Valley dream-pop songwriter Kendra McKinley, Albany hip-hop group Capital City Crooks, and Saratoga bluegrass-folk outfit Sullivan’s Smirk
Jerkers. For more information visit artonlark.net.