Ridgefield's Best Fall Party Venue Is a Parking Garage Roof
Two festivals, three weeks apart, five stories up. Here's everything you need to know about ilani's Wine & Food Fest and Oktoberfest before tickets get away from you.
You have parked on it. I have parked on it. Half of Clark County has circled it looking for a spot near the elevator on a Saturday night. And then, twice every fall, ilani closes off the top deck of that parking garage, hauls up a few hundred bottles of wine and a stage, and turns it into the best open-air event space in Ridgefield.
I'm not being cute about this. The rooftop is genuinely the move. You're up above everything, you can see the whole valley, the light at 7 p.m. in September is ridiculous, and nobody is jammed into a ballroom with a low ceiling and a carpet pattern designed to hide sins. It is a parking garage. It is also, for about eight hours at a stretch, a really good party.
There are two of them coming up: the ilani Wine & Food Fest on September 19 and 20, and Oktoberfest on October 10. Both on the roof. Both 21 and over. Both the kind of thing where you look at the calendar on the Thursday before and realize you should have bought tickets three weeks ago. So: buy them three weeks ago. Which is now.
ilani Wine & Food Fest, September 19 & 20
This is the bigger of the two, and the one with actual options to think through. ilani is running four separate ticketed sessions across the weekend, and they are not interchangeable. Read before you click.
ilani Wine & Food Fest 2026
Hundreds of wines, plus beer, spirits and seltzers, small plates from local restaurants, and live cooking demos on the main stage. The four sessions break down like this.
The daytime session, and the one I'd pick if you want to actually taste things and talk to the people pouring them. Afternoon light on the roof, a slightly calmer crowd, and enough room to double back to the table you liked.
The evening one, which is where the atmosphere is. You get the sunset, you get the lights coming on across the property, you get a crowd that has correctly identified this as a Saturday night. Bring a jacket, because five stories up in September stops being warm the second the sun goes.
The small, serious one, tucked into the gap between the two Grand Tastings. Top vintages from the region and beyond, poured by people who can tell you exactly what happened to that vineyard in 2021 and why it matters.
Worth knowing: the $105 includes a Grand Tasting ticket for either Session One or Session Two, so it's an upgrade rather than a second purchase. If you were already buying a Saturday ticket, the real cost of the Cru is the difference.
Ten dollars cheaper and generally the gentler day. If crowds are not your thing, or if you're bringing someone who wants to browse rather than commit to a four-hour Saturday, this is the one.
Oktoberfest, October 10
Three weeks later the same roof turns into a Biergarten, and honestly this is the one I look forward to more. Wine fest is lovely. Oktoberfest has contests. There is a meaningful difference.
The Biergarten runs on the parking garage rooftop with German, international and local beers alongside wine, seltzers and spirits, Bavarian food from local vendors, live music, games and the kind of low-stakes competitive events that make strangers cheer for each other. It has been a genuinely good time every year they've run it.
ilani Oktoberfest 2026
That last row is not me hedging for fun. As of this writing the official Oktoberfest page hasn't flipped over to 2026 yet, and the session windows have shifted slightly year to year. The date, the venue and the price are solid. If you want to be in a specific session, watch that page.
How to actually do a rooftop tasting
I have made most of the available mistakes, so let me save you a few.
Dress for the roof, not the lobby. It's open air, five levels up, with nothing between you and the wind coming off the valley. September afternoon is warm. September evening is not. October is October. Layers, and shoes you can stand in for four hours on concrete.
Eat before you go, then eat again there. The drink pass is generous and the food is a separate purchase, which is a combination that has humbled better people than me. The local vendors are worth the money anyway.
Sign up for Forever Rewards at home. Free, takes a minute, and it's the only way to claim the $10 in Promo Play that comes with your ticket. Doing it on your phone in the entry line while someone waits behind you is a worse experience.
Pick your session on purpose. Daytime if you want to talk to winemakers and brewers. Evening if you want the atmosphere. They're different events wearing the same name.
Getting there
ilani sits at 1 Cowlitz Way, just off I-5 at exit 16, about ten minutes from downtown Ridgefield and twenty-five to thirty from Portland. Free parking, as always. The wrinkle on these two weekends is that the top deck of the garage is the venue, so plan on the lower levels and the surface lots and give yourself a few extra minutes. Follow the signage and the people in the reflective vests. They know.
If you're coming in from Portland and want to make a day of it, the rest of Ridgefield is right there, and downtown is fifteen minutes from the casino. Lava Java in the morning, the wildlife refuge in the afternoon, rooftop in the evening. That's a good Saturday.
Questions people actually ask
Can I bring my kids?
No. Both events are strictly 21 and over with valid photo ID, no exceptions. ilani does have Kids Quest for childcare on property, but that's a separate arrangement you'd need to set up yourself.
Is the rooftop covered if it rains?
It's an open-air deck. There's some cover in the setup, but this is the Pacific Northwest in the fall and you should plan for weather rather than hope. A jacket you don't mind getting damp beats an umbrella in a crowd.
Do I have to buy the Vintage Elite Cru separately from a Grand Tasting ticket?
No. The $105 Cru ticket includes admission to either Saturday Grand Tasting session, so you're buying one thing, not two.
What happens if it sells out?
Then it's sold out. These are ticketed capacity events on a finite roof, and the Saturday evening sessions historically go first. This is your reminder.
Is the food included in my ticket?
No. Your ticket covers the drink pass. Food from the participating restaurants and vendors is available for purchase on site.
Can I use my $10 Promo Play the same night?
Yes, and you'll need to be an ilani Forever Rewards member to claim it. It's limited to one per member, and Promo Play carries its own expiration window, so check the terms at entry rather than saving it for December.
Go do the thing
Ridgefield does not have a lot of rooftop anything. We have a wildlife refuge, a downtown you can walk end to end in ten minutes, a baseball team named after a dinosaur, and about four evenings a year where you can stand five stories up with a glass in your hand and look out over all of it. Two of those weekends are in the next six weeks.
Buy the tickets. Sort out the ride. Bring the jacket.
More from Meanwhile in Ridgefield
Going to either one? Find me on the roof. I'll be the one with a jacket, a plate of something Bavarian, and strong opinions about which table has the best pour. Tag @meanwhileinridgefield in your photos and I'll share the good ones, and if you hear anything about what ilani is putting on that roof next, you know where to send it.
