GARDINER — Tom Pickett and Deidre Birbeck said coming to the Swine & Stein Brewfest has become an annual tradition for them and their friends.

“It’s introduced me to all different kinds of places around here,” Pickett, of Augusta, said. 

Expected to join the couple Saturday afternoon for the Oktoberfest-style festivities in downtown Gardiner were several hundred more people, according to organizers’ estimates.

This year’s festival featured more than 20 craft beverage producers from across Maine, serving up samples to those who paid the price of admission, from $40 to $55. Beverages for sampling included beer, of course, but also hard cider, wine, mead and craft spirits. A handful of food trucks inside the brewfest and area restaurants were serving up food, too, with the spotlight on all-things pork.

The action on closed-down Water Street in downtown Gardiner was just getting started around 1:30 p.m. On tap for later in the warm, sunny fall afternoon: A frozen T-shirt race, a costume contest, the festival’s annual beard and mustache competition and the “unofficially official” rock, paper, scissors state championship.

The brewfest, organized by the economic revitalization nonprofit Gardiner Main Street, started in 2009 and is now in its 16th year. Even the COVID-19 pandemic did not put Swine & Stein on hold: Organizers in 2020 shifted to a to-go model because of public health restrictions at the time.

Ehrin Simanski, president of Gardiner Main Street, said it is the organization’s biggest event each year. About 600 people bought tickets ahead of time, with at least 100 more expected to buy admission at the entrance, Simanski said.

“Considering that Damariscotta is doing the pumpkin festival today, and all that stuff — there’s just so many things that are always happening — we are very lucky to get the turnout that we always do,” Simanski said. 

Simanski said Swine & Stein has expanded its offerings, in part because some brewers who used to attend have closed or moved away from doing festivals. 

“We’re really doing a full beverage experience that is amazing,” Simanski said.

Christy Hemenway, owner of Run Amok Mead in West Gardiner, said there seems to be growing interest in mead, an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey. Hemenway said she typically needs to explain to people what many refer to as the world’s oldest form of alcohol.

“People are curious and have a good time, and then we end up with customers,” Hemenway said. 

Casey Grass, of Ambition Brewing in Wilton, said the most popular among three beers the brewery had on tap was a white stout, which won best-in-show at the Skowhegan Craft Brew Festival.

“I’m loving it,” said Grass, who said it was his first time at the Gardiner brewfest. “There’s a lot of good food. A lot of great people. And great weather today.”