PORT TOWNSEND — When Water Street Brewing and Ale House closed last summer, many of the customers wondered how Strange Brewfest would continue without the support of its founders.
The show will go on.
The seventh annual Strange Brewfest will be held tonight, Saturday and Sunday at the American Legion Marvin G. Shields Post 29, 209 Monroe St., Port Townsend — one block away from its former venue.
The celebration, which began in 2005, has evolved into a benevolent beer festival that includes the community while drawing a healthy amount of outsiders tuned in to quality suds and hops.
The celebration will feature 25 different microbreweries and a steady sequence of interchanging musicians providing nonstop entertainment.
Beer will be served from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. today, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday — with the celebration going on until midnight — and from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. with doors open until 7 p.m. on Sunday.
$25 admission
Admission is $25. That includes four eight-ounce glasses of microbrew, with additional beers available for $1.50.
Aside from the music, the Roadside Woodcarver — Steve Backus, his sister, Lynn, and (back by popular demand) nationally known Pat McVay, as well as Steve Orne — will demonstrate artistic skills in a chain saw carving demonstration during daylight hours both Saturday and Sunday.
If that is not enough, the weekend will feature a continuing series of “additional frivolity,” including fire dancing, belly dancing, juggling, hula hooping and stilt walking.
It is the first time that the event has opened on a Friday, said Legion Commander Joe Carey, who is organizing the event along with Kinetic Coffee proprietor Janet Emery and a loose aggregation of 100 volunteers.
Also assisting are Nina Law and Mark Burr, who ran the event as owners of Water Street Brewing and are “acting as consultants,” Carey said.
Carey estimates that about 1,500 people will show up for the festivities — filling local hotels, helping businesses and spreading the word about Port Townsend.
Proceeds go to repairs
All proceeds will be used to make needed repairs on the 70-year-old building that the Legion has operated since 1947.
The idea to get involved in the event came to Carey on Labor Day, when he awoke in the middle of the night with the inspiration to host the celebration at the Legion.
The Legion post itself can hold about 500 people, and a tent has been raised outside, where people can drink, mix and mingle — but not smoke.
Among the volunteers are six security people, and all the bartenders are keeping a sharp eye on the patrons and will be careful to not serve anyone who is visibly intoxicated, Carey said.
Benefit community at large
Carey said the money raised by the event to restore the Legion will benefit the community at large, through the Legion’s support of veterans and the homeless.
“A lot of the local veterans suffer from depression and PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] and have no other place to go,” he said.
“The homeless shelter is valuable to the community, and unless this building is maintained, these services will go away.”
For more information, visit www.strangebrewfestpt.com.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.