Deep River Brewing Company is throwing open its doors for its annual Oktoberfest celebration this Saturday in downtown Clayton, running from 12 pm to 10 pm with live music, food trucks, in-house craft beers and a full slate of traditional German beer-hall games. The daylong party is shaping up to be the brewery's biggest community gathering of the year, drawing families, dog owners and craft beer fans to the historic mill building on West Main Street.
Event organizer Lindsay Brewer said the celebration is about more than just beer. “The event brings the community together,” Brewer said, calling Oktoberfest “Deep River Brewing's biggest celebration” and noting the team works to make it “more enjoyable each year,” according to CBS17.com. The festivities include traditional games like a keg toss and a stein hoist, alongside live music from the Stuart Smalley Trio, which performs from 6 pm to 9 pm.
Hungry attendees will have plenty of options, with food trucks Not Just a Fry Guy, Pinoy BBQ and Craft Public House set up for the day, while Panas Flavor and The Blue Window roll in later in the evening with flavored bites. Washing it all down is Deep River's own seasonal Märzen, a German-style amber lager brewed specifically for the occasion. According to Deep River Brewing Company, the beer is lagered for up to four months to balance its caramel malt and hop profile and comes in at 5.8% ABV, following the traditional method of brewing Märzen in spring and aging it through the summer for autumn release.
A Cotton Mill Turned Craft Beer Landmark
The celebration unfolds inside a building with deep roots in Clayton's industrial past. Deep River's taproom at 700 W. Main Street occupies a former cotton-spinning mill, restored with repurposed barn wood, Mason-jar lighting and whiskey barrel tables, per the North Carolina Travel Guide. Cotton mills were an important part of Clayton's industrial past, and the brewery's revival of the space is part of the town's broader story of reinvention.
Deep River Brewing Company was co-founded by Paul and Lynn Auclair in 2013, brewed its first batch on February 28 of that year and opened to the public that April.
Part of a Statewide Beer Month — and a Shifting Industry
Clayton's festival lands squarely within North Carolina's official celebration of craft brewing. Governor Josh Stein proclaimed October as “NC Beer Month,” citing the state's more than 400 independent craft breweries and their role in local economies, agriculture and disaster relief, as reported by WCNC. The North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild has said the industry now generates an annual economic impact of $2.3 billion and supports more than 18,000 jobs statewide.
The industry also faces challenges. State Department of Revenue figures analyzed by the Craft Brewers Guild show statewide beer excise tax collections fell 9.7% between 2021 and 2025.
