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IRVING PARK — Live music, food trucks and craft beers will be on tap for Independence Park’s 5th Annual Beer Fest.
“This is the one big fundraiser we do at Independence Park,” Anna said Anna Faford, president of the Independence Park Advisory Council.
The breweries participating this year include Begyle Brewing, Dovetail Brewery, Eris Brewery and Cider House, Half Acre Beer Company, Haymarket Pub & Brewery, Old Irving Brewing Co., Revolution Brewing, Twisted Hippo and much more.
Presale tickets for the Sept. 15 event are $40 and can be purchased here. The day of the festival tickets can be purchased at the door for $50. Attendees must be at least 21 years old and get a commemorative tasting glass with their ticket. No children or pets are allowed at the festival.
The park is located at 3945 N. Springfield Ave. in the Irving Park neighborhood.
Faford says what makes the Independence Park beer festival unique is its smaller intimate feel. This means there’s less time waiting in lines compared to other, larger festivals around the city. So people who attend the fest have more time to chat with brewers.
Credit: Image courtesy Independence Park Advisory Council.Additionally, food trucks will also be parked around the fest. These include DönerMen, which serves German street food, and gourmet gelato and sorbet from Black Dog Gelato.
And this year live music will be performed by Los Gallos, with Eddie Torrez sitting in to play the squeezebox, and Lunar Ticks. This year the festival will also be including some backyard-style games like bags for people to play.
“Some feedback we got from last year was that the beer fest is great, but sometimes people need something to do in between just trying all their beers,” she said. “So we were going to put a couple of bag sets in the tennis courts as well, so that people could stop and play a little bit in between their tastings.”
In the past, the park council would host spaghetti dinners, circus in the park and other fundraising events. But now the beer festival is their main fundraising event of the year.
“So the first few years of the beer fest raised funds for our wonderful, accessible playground,” Faford said. “And last year the proceeds went towards some general park programming.”
This included purchasing uniforms, matching jackets and hats, for 70 Special Olympics athletes who are part of the park’s special recreation team. This year the festival is going to raise funds for the park’s movie programing.
“The majority of the funds are going to be used towards new equipment for movies in the park,” Faford said. “Our existing screen does have a tear in it, and the projector is now a few years old and so technology is always getting better. So we’re looking to upgrade.”
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