The following information is from the Travel Berkeley Springs office:

Berkeley Springs is apple butter central this weekend. Also fall festival central and beard contest/hog calling central. In fact, for the best time possible this weekend, there is no place better to be than Berkeley Springs for the 36th annual Apple Butter Festival.

Insiders start early. Like Thursday night at Tari's Cafe where one of the festival's favorite bands -- New Moon -- is rocking the place with their own wild brand of bluegrass. Music begins at 8pm.

Friday is controlled chaos as booths start setting up in the food lot, along the streets and in the park. You can catch the buzz and still have a lovely time on an Artwalk that begins with Mountain Laurel Gallery at 5pm and continues with the opening of Magical Mystical Fantasy Creations -- a gorgeous and, well, fantastic art exhibit at the Ice House Gallery from 7:30 to 9pm. The place will be filled with imaginative dolls, Santas, paintings and assemblages like you haven't seen since your childhood fairy tale dreams. The Gallery will be open throughout the festival from 11am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, a down home parade celebrating "The Good Earth" kicks off the festival at 9am. Here's a tip -- come before 9am and get a parking place or wait until after 10am or else you'll be caught in closed roads. Of course, if you REALLY want to get the jump on things, come at dawn and watch the apple butter makers set up their giant kettles, start their fires and begin stirring. Fortunately for all those of you who NEVER want to be up before dawn, they keep at the stirring all day and will invite you to stir along. More pre-parade fun on Saturday is at First methodist Church on the hill overlooking the festival grounds where they are serving a great pancake breakfast from 6 to 9am.

The full schedule for all the fun both days can be found online -- or picked up at the entrance to the park both days. Here are the highlights and secret tips. Officially the festival starts at 10:30am on Saturday and noon on Sunday. That's not to say that there will not be hardworking booths open earlier but everyone closes at 5pm both days. By 1:30pm on Saturday, you can find out who has the best apple butter then line up to get some -- and who won the bake contest and buy those entries too. If you are in the park just before 3pm on Saturday and are sporting facial hair, expect to be recruited to compete in the 36th annual Beard Contest.

On Sunday, revenge-seeking family members and friends might invite you to be their partner in the Egg Toss. Beware. Expect gooey mess on your hands, hair, face. etc. The REAL fun comes at 2:15pm when the Hog Calling Contest is a combination of performance art and reality show country style. Anyone who has no shame can join in.

Both days there is great music from the bandstand -- New Moon again and Critton Hollow String Band on Saturday and the traditional brass sound of the Tri-State Community Band on Sunday. The food is festival-friendly. The apple butter tasty. Vendors have lots of great stuff including local produce and art. You can buy a chance on a fabulous quilt. And, best of all, you can enjoy the people -- friends, strangers, cousins, neighbors. As for parking -- the easiest is north of town at the Sand Mine lot with a free trolley to take you back and forth.

The most fun in the evening is to see "500 Days of Summer" at the vintage Star Theatre. Smile at memories of first love and eat the best popcorn in four states. Showtime is 8pm, Friday through Sunday.

All your favorite attractions in Berkeley Springs are open and ready for you to visit before, after or during the festival from shops and spas to restaurants in town and out. Take a short walk up the street from the food lot and visit Vintage Kitchen for their weekend Sidewalk Sale Friday, Saturday and Sunday offering apple butter grab bags. At Rose Cafe, you can really have a change of pace from festival fun and get your aura photographed or have a psychic tell your fortune. There's also a new shop opening in the same building with lovely fragrant creams.

Ambrae House will be featuring live music with Jim Fredo Saturday from 4-7pm and Sunday 2-5pm. They are also now open Thursday through Monday for breakfast and lunch along with their wine and tapas bar on Friday and Saturday.

Do not wait another second before getting a room -- people are always canceling so you could get lucky. Check our list of available spots on the lodging page and find exactly what you need whether inn room or cabin in the woods or a full vacation home so you can bring the whole family to the festival.

Here's the final secret -- if crowds are not your thing, come NEXT weekend when the foliage will be at peak and everyone will still be glad to see you.