South Coast Botanic Garden’s Dogtoberfest
South Coast Botanic Garden’s adorable dog-walking hours jump from a once-a-month treat to an every-weekend affair just during the month of October at Dogtoberfest. In addition to dog-friendly walking paths, the garden throws a bunch of Oktoberfest-style activities into the mix. For the humans, you’ll find beer stations along a Pup Crawl throughout the garden, as well as on the main lawn. That’s where you’ll find the bulk of the programming, too, including live music from Die Sauerkrauts, plus stein-holding, pretzel-tossing and yodeling contests. For the pups, expect training obstacles along the garden pathway and races on the lawn. As for the beer aspect, a VIP ticket gets you a flight of beer (or root beer) samples, a full-size beer, a pretzel necklace and a few other small perks. New this year is the dog VIP ticket, which comes with a free “dog beer” tasting (who knew that existed?), a treat, a photo of your pet and access to the VIP Top Dog Zone, complete with splash pads and doggie pools.