How to Eat and Drink This Week in Portland

It’s pumpkin-patch time at the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island. This year’s maize is themed “Keep Portland Lost,” because that’s the goal: to trap Portlanders inside the maze of corn, then harvest the hapless denizens of the Rose City into, I don’t know, corn syrup or something. Really, though, the Pumpkin Patch is the best. Get out there early to avoid lines. The Maize at the Pumpkin Patch, 16511 NW Gillihan Road. Various hours. Check portlandmaze.com for details. $5-$7, free for children under 5.

BeerQuest PDX’s latest pub crawl kicks off at Kells, runs through downtown and Old Town, and includes a tour of the Shanghai Tunnels. I took one of those tours years ago, and while the legend and lore they feed you is almost entirely bullshit, the tunnels could still be referred to as “creepy”—especially since The Big One could hit and you’d be sandwiched under Old Town for the rest of time. Ain’t nobody comin’ for ya. Beerquestpdx.com. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 17-19 and Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 24-Nov. 2. $25.

I’ve read the press release for St. Johns’ Volksfest at least five times now, and my loose impression is it’s essentially three days of all hell breaking loose, with food and music and drinking and breakfast in various parts of St. Johns. There are so many capital letters, it’s difficult to tell, but capital letters are important, so I’m assuming Volksfest is very important. The event also benefits Urban Gleaners. The Colony, 7525 N Richmond Ave., 939-2949. 5 pm Friday, Oct. 18, and 11 am Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 19-20. Donation.

One of Oregon’s best-kept secrets is the Northern Coast in the fall, where the summer crowds have long dissipated and you can typically get by with a sweater if it isn’t raining. This awkwardly titled event, which ranges from Astoria to Cannon Beach, includes stops along the region’s burgeoning brewing industry. Multiple locations. Various times. For information, see visittheoregoncoast.com.

I like to make jokes, but I would never joke about disc golf. Why? Because disc golf is sweet. Anyway, this easygoing event features barbecue, Fort George’s Black IPA and hurling slivered circles of plastic over hill and dale. Clatsop County Fairgrounds, 92937 Walluski Loop, Astoria, fortgeorgebrewery.com. Noon. $20. 21kknd.

The second of a three-part series on foraging Oregon’s various regions, October’s class focuses on urban environments. Lifelong forager Sara Pool teaches students how to survive the wilds of Portland, presumably on foods other than garbage and Himalayan blackberry. Good Keuken, 5031 NE 42nd Ave., goodkeuken.com. 10 am-4 pm. $85.

Pumpkins. As far as the eye can see. Piles of pumpkins. Mountains of pumpkins. Now picture all those pumpkins at a beer festival, quaffing steins of one-of-a-kind pumpkin beer lovingly alchemized by Portland’s finest brewers. Now picture them spitting pumpkin seeds. Now picture the pumpkins leaping off seaside cliffs like lemmings, bursting on the rocks below. Then, and only then, will you begin to understand how great Killer Pumpkin Fest is. Green Dragon, 928 SE 9th Ave., 517-0660. 11 am. The event continues Sunday, Oct. 20.

This event features Mediterranean food served in the dark. On one hand, it’s pretty cool to eat a nice meal while a professor of behavioral neuroscience discusses the ins and outs of the five senses and, also, you can’t see. On the other, doesn’t this sound like an elaborate setup for a prank? Union/Pine, 525 SE Pine St., 818-292-1169. 7-11 pm. $65. 21kknd.