Chris Geaghan is not the kind of guy you’d expect to see in a skirt.

He looks like he’d be more comfortable in a football helmet and pads than a jumper and blouse, but he’ll be dressed to the nines (or, in this case, the neins) – for Bangor’s fourth annual Octoberfest celebration this Saturday. The festivities will include a Hansel and Gretel contest, and Geaghan will be Gretel for a day – if his dainty footwear doesn’t hold him back.

“Most of it has to do with how my boots hold up,” Geaghan said. “It’s a good idea. I have no problems with such things. There are things that scare me, but this is not one of them.”

Geaghan, who owns the Whig & Courier in West Market Square, was one of the festival’s original founders, along with Rick Schweikert of the Grasshopper Shop and Paul Noonan of the New Moon Cafe. This year, the cast has grown to include more members of the downtown business community, as well as representatives from the Maine Discovery Museum and the Bangor YMCA and the city’s parks and recreation department.

Octoberfest, which started out with a beer tent, bands and food vendors, has grown as well. This year, organizers hope to attract more families to the event. The Maine Discovery Museum will kick things off with a 5-kilometer Riverwalk along the Bangor and Brewer waterfronts. The walk will give parents and children a healthy way to start the day.

From noon to 5 p.m., families can head to Pickering Square, where the YMCA will set up a bounce house and have plenty of child-friendly activities, including beanbag tosses, face painting by the Art Studios of Bangor, and chalk for sidewalk art, as well as candy and balloons.

“Their goal and ours was to make it family-friendly,” said Natalie Whitehouse of the Maine Discovery Museum. “I hope that families will come down and make a day of it.”

The Hansel and Gretel contest at 3 p.m. will lure in people of all ages. Winners in several categories will be determined by the audience, though the categories aren’t set in stone yet. Kelly Cotiaux, who came up with the idea for the contest, said it all depends on who shows up. But with Geaghan on board (and his surprise “Hansel” counterpart) cross-dressing surely will be part of the mix.

“We are so excited about it,” Cotiaux said. “Basically it all came down to, ‘How do we make this really fun and really exciting so it’s not just people sitting around drinking beer?’ Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

It wouldn’t be Octoberfest without beer and bratwurst, though. The Whig & Courier will sponsor a tasting tent, with Maine microbrews and plenty of imports. Montes International Catering and the local German club will sell traditional fare, such as sausage and sauerkraut. But there will be other food available, as well. The Rotary club will return this year with its grill, and there will be doughboys, Swedish treats, and the ever-popular Bangor brownie.

The music lineup is equally diverse. The acoustic Alex Rosenblatt band will kick things off at 11:45 a.m. at the stage near Merchants Plaza, facing West Market Square. Animal Suit Drive By, a local ska band, will perform from 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. A German oompah band will perform from 1:30 to 3 p.m. and there will be a break in the music from 3 to 3:30 p.m. for the Hansel and Gretel contest.

Blue Hill-based Flash In the Pans steel drum band will start things back up from 3:30 to 5 p.m., followed by the Dave Mellow Band from 5 to 6 p.m. Bluesman Blind Albert will wrap up the festivities from 6 p.m. on, barring any harsh weather.

“The music is going to be really good this year,” said Noonan, who lined up many of the bands.

But if the weather is harsh, festival-goers can duck inside Cadillac Mountain Sports for its annual gambler’s sale, in which the savings increase as the weekend goes on, or they can stop at the Grasshopper Shop for a one-day 25 percent off sale.

Organizers are hoping to capitalize on the success of this summer’s National Folk Festival, which drew tens of thousands of people to the waterfront. Though the scope of the event is much smaller, the group hopes to capture some of its momentum.

“This is a great way to remind people that there is a life that goes on here all year long,” Cotiaux said. “Octoberfest is a celebration of the past season and the season to come. It just gets people excited about milling around downtown and having a good time.”

To register for the Maine Discovery Museum’s 5K walk, call 262-7200 or visit www.mainediscoverymuseum.org. For information on the YMCA’s children’s events, contact Courtney Collins at the Bangor YMCA, 941-2815.