The Anderson Valley Lion’s Club members attended the 25th Annual Beer Fest as they always do in order to prepare 450 Tri-Tip sandwiches with veggies (red pepper, onion and mushrooms) to sell at $20 a pop to hungry beer drinkers. We were probably (make that obviously) the oldest attendees and the young beer drinkers showed us the proper amount of respect and appreciation by thanking us profusely and behaving very nicely. Our Lions Club President Eric Bloyd, our Secretary Mea Bloyd and our Treasurer/Vice President Christine Clark and outgoing Vice President Bill Harper presided over our enthusiastic group of volunteers and we were “all in” for this our biggest event of the year. Justin Riley and crew turned out the tender tri-tip while super-salesman Kevin Lee offered all takers delicious free samples to effectively bump sandwich sales up. (Very effective.)
The website encouraged all comers: “This year’s theme ‘The Nineties’ celebrates a decade that smelled like teen spirit and tasted like Hot Pockets, that asked us to wear oversized flannel shirts and track suits, that crowned a Fresh Prince and blasted Pearl Jam through Walkman headphones. We. Can’t. Freaking. Wait. See you in Boonville (with Hyper Color on). Proceeds from this (and every) Boonville Beer Fest goes to benefit local charities.”
Lots of local charities worked the event and will benefit substantially through their efforts. For a full list of recipients contact the AV Brewery. Using local help and paying handsomely for their services was a brilliant concept from the start. Any negative sentiment towards a giant drinking party evaporates in the face of such giant generosity.
Mother Nature smiled on us by providing two beautiful warm days perfect for the special skimpy “welcome to summer” outfits on parade. As can be seen from the accompanying photos, the crowd really gets into whimsical attire. Some of the most colorful were members of a marching band from Humboldt called the “Firkin Tappers.” Their specialty is belting out rousing classics like Ike and Tina Turner’s “Rollin’ on the River” at warp speed with brass and drums.
There was lots of music including the Voodoo Vultures, Yeah Boy, Burnt, and our personal local favorites Ryan and Steph with Boonfire. The audience loved them even when Ryan paused to tune his guitar telling the crowd, “I’m just doing this because I care about you” — the feeling was mutual. Thank you Ryan for your super danceable Reggae and Steph for your classy strut and soulful but smooth vocal stylings.
This year the event was so mellow that you could even bring your mom. Seriously I did not see one person barfing, peeing on a tree, fighting, mud-puddle diving, or behaving drunkenly in any way this year. If you like young people, or drunk people or young drunk people this is the event for you. The major sign of high spirits was the collective whoop heard whenever someone dropped a glass (plastic) on the ground, which was heard at very regular intervals all day long.
My gracious landlady Dee Pickus (non-drinker ticket) was there with her mischievous son Josh. Josh showed me the hats he bought from the big hat booth where you could get a hat from seemingly anywhere. Josh had a Lancaster hat for his Dad John’s hometown, A Fort Bragg Hat for his Wife, Fremont for his current home, also Soquel for reasons I can’t remember. Who knew hats could get so personal? There was also tie-dye clothing, pottery beer mugs ($25) and many beer themed t-shirts. Also on sale was the rental of high quality headphones that connected to a live DJ for $10 so you could wander the Fest with really super cool dance beats pulsing through your brain. I rented a set and let all the Lions have a listen and 9 out of 10 started dancing, so that tells you what kind of live wires the Lions of Anderson Valley are!
In addition to the tri-tip some very good food was on offer, including an excellent Indian Curry wagon (Lamb Vindaloo anyone?), Greek Gyros, Mexican, American Grub and even Dutch Girl Desserts. Both Saturday and Sunday the Senior Center sponsored Rise and Shine Breakfast at 8:00am “until we run out” — a real service in a town challenged for multiple food outlets with a variety of open hours. The flyer with a smiling sun said, “All welcome; hangovers not required.” (Very clever Renee.)
Aside from food there was “swag,” aka free stuff, mostly stickers and coasters many with clever graphics and names. We collected Belching Beaver, Fog Belt, Ghost Town, Black Hammer, Dying Breed, East Brother, Henhouse and Sudwerk to name a few. This year there was also a section where cider makers had booths including our own Gowan’s Heirloom Cider. The Gowan’s booth was very well designed and professional looking. Some of the attending breweries weren’t much more than a keg and two guys.
As always with beer drinking there were more men than women involved. My theory is that women tend to like sour things better (wine) while men prefer the bitter (beer). What the women lacked in numbers they made up for in enthusiasm. I saw one in majorette knee high white boots, some with crash helmets, two with rose and lavender hair wreaths, one with a giant butterfly tattooed on her stomach and one with giant Elton John worthy rhinestone sunglasses (Jonesy). (See accompanying collage.)
In conclusion, I’d say that just about everyone I ran into was smiling. When approached with “I’m taking pictures for the local paper” 99% said yes and posed prettily. Also if you don’t like beer but like going to the Brewery the Summer Solstice which is light in body but heavy on vanilla is back in stock after its yearly winter hiatus. That and a bag of classic Lay’s potato chips and you’re good to go.
If you missed the fest you have two chances coming up to catch the fun train and get onboard. First is the Brewery Friday night music program 4:30-6:00 every Friday. The bartenders are unfailingly cheery and helpful and it’s a great place to meet friends and chill without having to pick up the house! On Fridays the General Store’s food wagon is ready to feed you some truly great Mexican food and I especially recommend the flan which is the world’s best for only $5. If you want a really big hit (no pun intended), the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival is coming back to the fairgrounds June 16-18. So if you like young people or you like getting high or you like young people getting high there will be absolutely zero chance of being bored if you attend.
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