Twin Cities Oct 5–11: Oktoberfest, Cine Latino, Shaboozey & Mill City Market

Gold October light, crisp mornings, and a packed Twin Cities weekend. George and Laura walk through farmers markets, Oktoberfest, Cine Latino, local sports, the vegan bench, and where Minnesota cannabis sits mid-2026. In this episode: Mill City Farmers Market shifts to 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Saturdays for October at 704 S. 2nd St.; St. Paul Farmers' Market in Lowertown runs Sat 7–1 and Sun 8–1. 16th annual Twin Cities Oktoberfest, Fri Oct 9 (5–11 p.m.) and Sat Oct 10 (noon–10 p.m.) at the Historic Progress Center, MN State Fairgrounds. Cine Latino at The Main Cinema Oct 7–11 — five days of Spanish- and Portuguese-language film plus food trucks; City of Lakes Art Fair Oct 10–11 along W. Bde Maka Ska Parkway. Live music: Pinhead Gunpowder (Oct 7), Starbomb (Oct 9), Waylon Wyatt (Oct 10) at First Avenue; Jim Henson's Labyrinth: In Concert at the Fitzgerald Oct 6; Shaboozey "Outlaws Never Die" at The Armory Oct 10. Sports: USMNT vs. Canada Oct 6 and Minnesota United vs. Houston Dynamo Oct 10 at Allianz Field; Twins eliminated Sept 20; Lynx swept 2–0 by New York in round one. St. Paul Scary Movies screens "Hocus Pocus" Fri Oct 9 at dusk at Como Park Midway Pavilion; Zombie Pub Crawl returns Oct 13 to NE Minneapolis. Food: Aubergine opened its first brick-and-mortar in St. Paul earlier in 2026; Šhotá Indigenous BBQ is incoming at 2601 E. Franklin Ave.; vegan shoutouts to J. Selby's, Herbivorous Butcher, Reverie, Hard Times, Trio Plant-Based, and Hello Pizza. Minnesota cannabis: 240 licenses issued from 3,541 applicants, ~96 adult-use retailers, Omnibus Cannabis Bill effective Aug 1 (≤10 mg THC/serving, 200 mg/package), and a testing-lab capacity crunch causing shelf gaps. Sources: Mill City Farmers Market St. Paul Farmers' Market, Lowertown Twin Cities Oktoberfest Meet Minneapolis Calendar (Cine Latino, City of Lakes, USMNT, Labyrinth, Shaboozey) St. Paul Parks & Rec — Scary Movies First Avenue shows Minnesota United FC tickets 2026 Minnesota Twins season Lynx 2026 playoffs Zombie Pub Crawl (Star Tribune) Twin Cities restaurant openings TCB: Minnesota startup capital debate MN Cannabis Hub — mid-2026 update MJBizDaily — municipal dispensary Subscribe: mplsvegan.com Full transcript George: —and I'm telling you, the light this morning on the Stone Arch was that gold October light, Laura. The kind that makes you forgive the city for everything. Laura: Forgive it for what, George? What did Minneapolis do to you this week? George: I don't know, the potholes maybe. The parking tickets. All of it. Laura: Uh huh. So we're starting the show with you forgiving the pavement. George: We're starting the show with GRATITUDE. Big difference. Laura: Mm. Okay. I'll allow it. George: Thank you. Laura: But real quick — did you actually walk the bridge or did you just drive past and look at it? George: I walked it. Partially. Laura: Partially. George: I walked to the middle and then I got cold and turned around, which is a very Minnesota thing to do. Laura: That's the most honest thing you've said all month. George: It's crisp out there! Like, real crisp. Hat weather. You can smell the leaves doing their thing. Laura: You can. And can we just acknowledge — October in the Cities when the sun shows up? There is nothing better. George: Nothing. Laura: NOTHING. George: Which brings me to my pitch for the weekend. Hear me out. Laura: Oh boy. George: Saturday morning. Mill City Farmers Market. Nine a.m. Laura: Nine, not eight? George: They shifted it later for October, which, honestly? Bless them. The eight a.m. summer start was a lot. Laura: It was a LOT. You remember I showed up one Saturday in July like 8:15 and you were already two cups of coffee deep? George: I was so smug. Laura: You were SO smug. George: And now I have to be humble because they moved it to nine and I can't lord it over anyone anymore. Laura: Ope, there goes your whole personality. George: Gone. Just vaporized. Laura: Okay but the market in October is genuinely my favorite version of it. All the squash, the apples, that late-season — you know, the kale that's finally sweet because it's been cold on it. George: Yes. YES. Frost-kissed kale. Laura: "Frost-kissed." Listen to yourself. George: What? That's the term! Laura: That's a BRUNCH-MENU term, George. George: Okay, fair. Laura: And if you're over on the East side, St. Paul Farmers' Market in Lowertown is going too. Saturday seven to one, Sunday eight to one. George: Which is wild to me because that's a FULL weekend of market energy if you're ambitious. Laura: Who's doing both? George: Me. Theoretically. In my head. Laura: In your head. George: In reality I'm doing one and then taking a nap. Laura: There it is. George: Alright, so — before we go further, little housekeeping. This show is brought to you by our friends at mplsvegan.com, your map to the plant-based scene in the Cities. Laura: And mncannabishub.com for everything happening in Minnesota cannabis — which, trust me, is a lot right now. George: We'll get to that. The cannabis stuff is actually kind of a story this week. Laura: It IS a story. Hold that. George: Holding it. Food first. Laura: Food first, always. George: So. Oktoberfest is this weekend, right? Sixteenth year. Laura: Friday night, Saturday all day. Out at the Fairgrounds, the Progress Center. George: W...