It’s not quite an Oktoberfest celebration, but it’s close enough…
There’s a lightness to fall in Northeastern Pennsylvania—crisp air that smells of sun‑baked cornfields, the slow burn of last summer’s heat in your veins. It meets you at the gates of Mohegan Sun in Wilkes‑Barre on Saturday, September 13, 2025, from noon to 10 pm—the Rock ’N Brew Fall Festival, a place to lose yourself in beer, bands, BB‑Qed meats, and the best kind of chaos you’d never expect to feel inside a casino’s sprawling campus.
The Basics: When, Where, and How Much
For a mere $7, you get full‑day access, re‑entry, and five sample tastings: a small cost for a day designed to unplug your bullshit meter and plug you back into something far more human. Tickets are available online or at the door; bring a chair, because they’ve thoughtfully carved out a BYO‑Chair zone for those of us who know comfort is at least half the battle.
You have to be 21+, and they enforce it—valid ID required, no glass bottles, no weapons, no outside food or drink. A wristband doesn’t get you on the casino floor, though—they keep those worlds strictly apart.
Food and Beer: Where BBQ Meets a Lager Mindset
They do fall right. Smoky half‑chickens, ribs, sweet corn roasted on open‑air grills, German potato salad, pork and beans, corn bread. If you’re picturing something refined—set that aside. This is honest food meant to fill your gut as you stand, beer in one hand, the promise of good company in the other.
Food trucks bring variety and whimsy: Notis the Gyro, 2 Wayz One Passion, Yogi’s Potato Pancakes—your artery‑clogging travel companions in the best possible way. Vendors hawk popcorn, chainsaw art, sweets—you’re in a world both strangely elegant and downright messy.
Entertainment, Not Tamed, Just Unfolding
This isn’t a plastic‑smile Oktoberfest. It’s live. It’s loud. The bands—Hangin’ with F.O.G., a Super ’70s tribute (Super Trans AM), and Separate Ways: The Journey Experience—are pulse‑steady and hungry to feed that old rock ’n roll spirit.
But you’re not just standing in front of a stage. You’re dodging wiener dogs, chihuahuas sprinting for glory at 2 pm, then again at 4 and 7, costumes optional but encouraged in full ’70s rock regalia.
There’s a NEPA Cornhole Tournament, giant chess and Connect‑4, rope toss, basketball toss, yard pong—a playground where grown‑ups get to pretend they never had to grow up. And then there’s the Stein Hoisting—that Bavarian test of endurance, beer held out flat, arm burning. Prove you’ve got the strength, and you walk away with a swag bag.
See you there?
Go. Taste the smoke, sample the beer, scarf down some chicken and German potato salad, and jam out to some great cover bands. Fall doesn’t wait, and these festivals? They’re nothing more than excuses to remember how good it feels to be nowhere in particular, surrounded by strangers, and completely at ease in your own skin—if only for a few hours, or the last sip of your pint.
