Two Oktoberfests, One Marsh Walk: Oceanside's September 19 Lineup

Most towns this size get one Oktoberfest, if that. According to Long Island Press, Barrier Brewing Co. on New Street had scheduled its fifth annual celebration for Saturday, September 19, and South Shore Craft Brewery on Hampton Road had scheduled its sixth annual Shoretoberfest for that afternoon. The two events were less than a mile and a half apart. The overlap gave visitors two Oktoberfest options in Oceanside.

For readers comparing the two events, here's what their advertised lineups offered, plus a stop most residents drive past without ever pulling in and where to eat afterward.

Two Oktoberfests on the same Saturday

Barrier Brewing has been rebuilding things since before most of its regulars started drinking there. The brewery poured its first batches in June 2010, upgraded to a larger space in 2012, and then took a direct hit from Hurricane Sandy within months of that move. It reopened in February 2013 and has been running ever since, eventually scaling up to a 20-barrel system. That history shows up in the crowd it draws now: a Tripadvisor reviewer summed up the vibe as the place to go if you want to feel like an adult in a town full of family-friendly spots, and the reviews consistently mention food trucks, dog-friendly seating, and free popcorn rather than a polished taproom experience.

South Shore Craft Brewery has built something adjacent but different. Its sixth annual Shoretoberfest was scheduled to feature River Mill Tavern for food and the same stein-holding contest format listed for Barrier. The advertised lineups gave each event its own mix of attractions.

The advertised lineups were:

• Barrier Brewing Co., 3001 New Street: Live music from The Bratwurst Boys, Bavarian food from 3rd Rail Kitchen, freshly shucked oysters from Toasted Oysters, a dry-hopped Oktoberfest beer on cask, and both a stein-holding contest and stumf strike, the traditional hammer-and-nail game.
• South Shore Craft Brewery, 3505 Hampton Road: Live music, German food from River Mill Tavern, and its own stein-holding contest as part of Shoretoberfest.

For someone comparing the two lineups, Barrier's schedule was geared toward a longer night out, with food trucks and contests built for a crowd staying late. South Shore's version was easier to pair with an earlier dinner plan, since River Mill Tavern was doing the cooking rather than a rotating truck.

The marsh behind the houses

Here's the part of Oceanside that trips up people who've lived here for years: the Marine Nature Study Area, tucked at 500 Slice Drive, sits inside a residential pocket that gives no hint it's there. One Tripadvisor reviewer who grew up in nearby Far Rockaway and considered himself familiar with Oceanside wrote that he never knew the preserve existed until he stumbled onto it. That's not a rare reaction. The Town of Hempstead manages 52 acres of salt marsh here, bordered by Middle Bay and Bedell Creek, with roughly a mile of elevated boardwalk looping through tidal wetlands. The full loop runs about 1.2 miles and takes most people under an hour.

What you'll actually see depends on timing, but ospreys nest on site, and the boardwalk regularly turns up diamondback terrapins, herons, and egrets working the shallows. The interpretive center recently got a new building with live tanks pulled from the surrounding water, and reviewers note interactive displays are still being added through 2026, so the center itself is worth a stop even if you've walked the trail before.

One detail that catches people off guard: the property is gated, and it's only open Tuesday through Saturday. A Tripadvisor reviewer drove out on a Sunday, found the gate shut, and watched two other cars pull up and turn around in the same ten minutes. Saturday, September 19 fell on a day the preserve was open, so a visitor could have paired a marsh walk with an Oktoberfest event that afternoon. An early visit would likely have meant a quieter boardwalk before the breweries opened.

Where to eat once you're off the boardwalk

Oceanside Road has anchored one of the South Shore's longer-running Italian kitchens for more than two decades. Meta Osteria & Barra, run by Chef Roberto Bosotina, has built its reputation on daily specialties like oven-roasted fish, duck, and osso buco, and it's been a fixture in the local restaurant scene long enough that regulars treat it as a known quantity rather than a discovery. For a quieter dinner after the marsh walk, this is an option.

For something with more personality, Joey's Bold Flavors leans into a classic Italian-American dining room with Sinatra playing and the lights kept low, and it regularly hosts community events rather than treating itself as just a dinner stop. Between the two, you've got a solid answer for either a low-key night or one where you want the room to have some atmosphere behind it.

Planning ahead for October

The fall calendar here doesn't stop at Oktoberfest. OceanCon lands on October 25, and the same day brings Halloween Splash or Treat at Saf-T-Swim of Oceanside, which gives families two separate reasons to plan around that weekend as well. Worth noting if you're planning another fall outing.

None of this requires driving to Long Beach or further out on the South Shore. The marsh, both breweries, and both restaurants sit within a few miles of each other, which is easy to take for granted when you live here and easy to miss entirely if you don't know to look for it. That mix makes it easy to shape a day around more than one kind of stop.

If you're weighing a move within Oceanside, or just curious what a property near Slice Drive or Long Beach Road might be worth given how the neighborhood has grown, Kevin Dowd has spent years working this stretch of the South Shore alongside Hudson County. Let's Connect whenever you're ready to talk specifics, no pressure attached.