A craft beer festival featuring about 75 breweries returns this weekend for its second year in a new location on the Penn State campus.
The Hoppy Valley Brewers Fest will be held 4 to 8 p.m. on Saturday (3 p.m. start for VIP ticket holders) at the Porter North lot next to Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
The location is a change from last year when the festival was held on the field at Beaver Stadium. Ongoing construction for the stadium renovation project made holding it there this year too difficult, and a survey of attendees found a consensus to keep the event on campus, said Eric Engelbarts, executive director of the Happy Valley Sports and Entertainment Alliance, which partners with Antifragile Brewing Company, the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau and the Central PA Tasting Trail to produce the festival.
“The stadium has its own draw, so I think people were there to sample the craft beer, but then they were also there for the experience of Beaver Stadium. Being in a venue like that is almost priceless as it relates to marketing for the event,” Engelbarts said. “Now, this year, by moving across the street to Porter North, we’re actually able to expand the event footprint, which is nice because you’re not kind of penciled into necessarily a football-field-size venue.”
While the festival will have about the same number of breweries on hand, the extra space also allows for a handful of other vendors. They range from permanent jewelry to hand-etched glassware to Uncle John’s Jawns cheesesteaks.
Medlar Field, meanwhile, will have concession stands open and restrooms available for attendees.
“Being in Porter North, we have plenty of room to be able to spread out for people to have space, but then also we’re able to utilize Medlar Field for the indoor plumbing,” Engelbarts said. “You don’t have to go into a port-a-john in order to use the restroom. You can go into Medlar Field. You can take advantage of the indoor plumbing, plus their amenities. Then that also does provide a little bit of an opportunity to kind of get away from the beer for a little bit, take a break and then and then you can obviously work your way back out there to continue the beer fest.”
In addition to the beer, vendors and concessions, the festival will host live music as well. Donny Burns & the 3rd Degree will open the afternoon and Ted McCloskey & the Hi-Fi’s will close.
Between the two local bands will be a performance from Georgia country artist Channing Wilson, a rising singer-songwriter who has played the Grand Ole Opry, toured with Riley Green, written for Luke Combs and will appear this fall on the new CBS music reality series “The Road.”
“Channing Wilson did attend last year’s event, but in a different capacity. He was with a bunch of other songwriters, and they kind of did what we call the songwriters roundtable-type thing,” Engelbarts said. “Where this year, he is bringing his entire band and will play for a 90-minute set throughout the general admission time.”
Beer though, is the centerpiece of the event, and Engelbarts credits Antifragile co-owner John Schaffer and his team for “leading the brewery charge.”
“If you look at these other brew fests that are happening around the state, they don’t get near the amount of breweries that we do, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we are brewery-led on this initiative,” Engelbarts said. “So [Schaffer is] calling in his personal contacts. He’s asking for personal favors. He’s talking brewer-to-brewer as we go. In fact, you even notice with the name, it being Brewers Fest and not a beer festival is because he wanted to put this together for the owners, for the brewers, for those that work in the industry.”
Three ticket options are available for the Hoppy Valley Brewers Fest: General admission for $69.50 includes access from 4 to 8 p.m.; VIP for $99.50 offers access one hour early; and designated driver admission is $24.50.
Tickets are available for purchase in advance online or at the gate on the day of the festival.
The inaugural festival hosted about 3,000 people, including ticketholders, brewers and sponsors. That number is expected to be smaller this year — around 1,500 — with the change in venue and date (last year’s event was held in May), Engelbarts said.
“[Porter North] doesn’t really have the draw that Beaver Stadium does, but it’ll look good,” he said, adding he expects the festival will return to the stadium in a future year after renovations are complete. “It’ll be a great event.”
Saturday’s festival will be held rain or shine. No one under the age of 21 and no pets will be permitted entry.
