Guests can throw back a brewski, hammer down a burger, smash around a few ping pong balls, and even throw an axe or two at this year鈥檚 Fort 91原创 Beer & Food Festival.
As many as 2,800 people are expected to gather outside the walls of the Fort 91原创 National Historic Site, in the heritage orchard, for the second annual festival this Saturday afternoon.
It鈥檚 all about enjoying some drinks, food, live entertainment, and fun, said festival coordinator Hannah Brown, who does double duty as marketing manager for the festival founders at Trading Post Brewing.
鈥淲e plan to make every year bigger and better than the one before,鈥� Brown said, noting that this year there are 25 breweries coming with more than 60 different craft beers to try, a dozen eateries with more than 20 different food options, and there鈥檚 even going to be a winery, cidery, meadery, and Kombucha vendor on site.
As well, the day will feature three live, local bands, Ryan McAllister & The Seventies, Derek Pitts & the Bullets, and Six Gun Romeo 鈥� a Canadian rockabilly band on the way to Europe this summer to tour.
鈥淪ix Gun Romeo are the only ones who played last year and they kicked off our festival by being the first ones on stage and people are still raving about them,鈥� Brown said.
The idea for the festival was conceived by and brought to life by Trading Post co-owners Paul and Lance Verhoeff.
They wanted to 鈥渃reate a place for our community to gather to celebrate the best of the Fraser Valley鈥檚 breweries and food vendors/suppliers/producers. It started as an idea, but once we started to talking to more and more people everyone got really excited about the idea,鈥� and that lead to last year鈥檚 sell-out event with 1,800 guests, she explained.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a brewery but we also have a restaurant in Fort 91原创, so combining great beer and great food together for our festival was a no brainer for us,鈥� Brown added.
鈥淲e think food tastes better with good beer and vice versa. And having live music from amazing local bands really keeps the good vibes up all day long. People were on their feet dancing in the sun last year and it was amazing to see, so I think each of these components really adds to the overall experience for our guests.鈥�
Tickets are $35 and includes admission to the six-hour festival, access to the live music, three tokens for beer or food, plus admission to the Parks Canada Fort 91原创 National Historic Site all weekend. Brown was expecting the event to sell out by the Wednesday before the event.
The event will also feature axe throwing, a ping pong table, and a pitch 鈥榥鈥� putt for attendees.
鈥淲e want to make this event an integral part of our community and hope that it continues for years to come to showcase and celebrate the best of the Fraser Valley and the place that we call home,鈥� Brown said.
She noted there鈥檚 even a charity component to the annual day-long event.
Profits from the festival go towards a Trading Post Brewing scholarship for the Kwantlen Polytechnic brewing program. Last year, that scholarship was $2,000. The scholarship honours John Mitchell, a British ex-pat credited with bringing microbreweries to B.C.
The is set up in the Fort 91原创 National Historic Site鈥檚 orchard, at the corner of Mary Avenue and Royal Street, and runs from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 19.
鈥淥ur owners and their families all live in Fort 91原创, so doing it here 鈥� in a place so close to home made sense. Our eatery is in Fort 91原创 and our brewery is only 10 minutes away in downtown 91原创,鈥� Brown elaborated.
鈥淭rading Post Brewing鈥檚 brand was built on the history of Fort 91原创 and B.C., and it鈥檚 something that鈥檚 really important to us so using their orchard and recognizing that it鈥檚 the Birthplace of B.C. was a natural fit. We also wanted to bring people back to the fort. We go there as school children and usually don鈥檛 go back until we have kids of our own and there鈥檚 so much history there that we want people to enjoy it and have a reason to come back.鈥�
