SKOWHEGAN — On Saturday, Sept. 2, more than 1,000 attendees from New England and beyond are expected to gather downtown for the annual Skowhegan Craft Brew Festival.
The festival will feature one key difference this year — it will take place overlooking the Kennebec River.
One of the only festivals in the state to feature exclusively Maine craft beer, wine, cider and spirits, the Skowhegan Craft Brew Festival has spent the last six years on Water Street, shutting traffic down for most of the day on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend. This year, festival organizers at Main Street Skowhegan wanted to consider alternative options that would bring even more foot traffic to locally owned, downtown businesses before and during the festival, while also eliminating the need to shut down traffic around Skowhegan’s rotary, the intersection of U.S. Routes 2 and 201, according to a news release from Kristina Cannon, president & CEO, Main Street Skowhegan.
“The goal of the brew festival is to bring people to Skowhegan who will spend money at our local merchants and who will want to come back to our town time and again,” said Cannon. “By opening up more on-street parking and hosting the event in the most beautiful part of town — along the breathtaking Kennebec Gorge — we’ll help drive more sales for business while showcasing our greatest asset.”
With nearly 30 brewers anticipated, the event will kick off with a VIP hour at 2 p.m. featuring free local food samples and specialty brews not available during the general session. The general session will include more than 100 different Maine-crafted libations for sampling, while merchants will offer a variety of festival fare from wood-fired pizza featuring all local ingredients to poutine and other indulgent delights.
There will be live music from solo acts Thomas LeClerk and Adam Babcock during VIP hour. River Bottom Funk and Middle Ground will play from 3-7 p.m. on opposite ends of the festival.
The Skowhegan Craft Brew Festival is coordinated by nonprofit Main Street Skowhegan, and all proceeds benefit ongoing revitalization efforts in Skowhegan.
Leading sponsors include Skowhegan Savings Bank, Maine Grains, Animal Medical Clinic, Ware Butler, Butler’s Car Wash, Damon’s Beverage Mart, DuBois Construction, Franklin Savings Bank, Hight Family of Dealerships, Key Appliance, Short Circuit Electric, 201 Service, Maine Roof Solutions, and Redington-Fairview General Hospital.
There are limited general admission tickets at skowhegancraftbrewfest.com. Festival organizers are encouraging people to get their tickets online before sales close at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1. If any tickets are still available on the day of the event, prices will increase by $5.
For more information, contact Cannon at kristina@mainstreetskowhegan.org or 207-614-4078.
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