Like many other Oktoberfest celebrations, a Saturday event at Plaza Diane will feature live music, games, food and beer. However, attendees will also get the opportunity to experience a blast from Powell’s past.

The local Oktoberfest kicks off at 3 p.m. with the formal opening of a 25-year-old time capsule. Community organizations and students packed the capsule with timely items in July 2000; city crews buried it at the downtown plaza the following year, with instructions to unearth it in 2025.

“We want people in the future to open it up, review the stuff and add to it, then bury it again,” then-Mayor Jim Milburn told the Tribune in August 2001.

According to the Tribune’s account, the capsule should contain items ranging from a Far Side cartoon to a sample obstetrics bill from Powell Valley Healthcare. 

“It’ll be kind of exciting to see what’s in there,” City Administrator Zack Thorington said at Monday’s Powell City Council meeting.

The Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce also reportedly threw some old Pizza Hut coupons into the capsule, which prompted the Tribune to wonder if the discounts would be honored a quarter-century later.

“Somebody’s going to have to try it,” Thorington laughed.

Plaza Diane leaders plan to gather new items and eventually rebury the capsule for another 25 years.

In the meantime, attendees at Saturday’s Oktoberfest can participate in relay races, listen to music by the brass band Alte Kameraden and purchase brats, cabbage rolls and multiple craft beers.

The event is set to run from 3-7 p.m.