(Previous Brewfest crowd | Photo courtesy of Old Mill District)
Here’s an early Christmas gift for craft beer lovers in Central Oregon and beyond. The Bend Brewfest is set to return to the Hayden Homes Amphitheater October 3-5, 2024.
“The Bend Brewfest is back home,” said Beau Eastes, the Old Mill District’s marketing director. “We’re confident the festival will be better than ever while staying true to what local craft beer enthusiasts have come to expect and enjoy.”
Founded in 2002 and held annually at the Hayden Homes Amphitheater, the hugely popular craft beer and cider festival was last staged at the venue in 2019. The three-day festival was canceled in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event returned in 2022 at a new location on the east side of the Deschutes River, along the river trail behind the Old Mill District shops, while the amphitheater underwent renovations.
That event and the new location were a success, but organizers earlier this year decided to postpone the brewfest until it could return to the larger amphitheater venue.
“The Bend Brewfest is a beloved tradition in our community and it’s been sorely missed,” said Phil Phifer, Food & Beverage manager for the Hayden Homes Amphitheater. “Like the rest of town, we’ve felt the void created by its absence and are thrilled to bring back Central Oregon’s largest and longest-running craft beer festival.”
The Bend Brewfest showcases the most creative and innovative craft breweries in the Pacific Northwest.
In years past, the three-day event has attracted more than 40,000 fans and included more than 70 vendors serving up 200 beers, ciders, wines and other fermented beverages like hard seltzers.
Phifer hopes the brewfest’s new October dates will make the festival easier for craft beer aficionados to attend with the event moved outside of Bend’s busier summer months.
The Bend Brewfest will also continue its long tradition of philanthropy by donating to local organizations that have huge positive impacts on our community. Since the festival began more than 20 years ago, it’s generated more than $100,000 for local nonprofits, including the Latino Community Association, Northwest Youth Discovery, Bend Fire Community Assistance Program, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Oregon, NeighborImpact, the Deschutes River Conservancy, and Out Central Oregon.
Additional details, including the brewery application process, will be coming soon at BendBrewfest.com.
“We hope this announcement gets some delicious, creative juices flowing at breweries all over the Pacific Northwest,” Eastes said. “Come October, they’re going to have a huge, thirsty crowd eagerly waiting to see what they’ve come up with. We cannot wait.”
Bend Brewfest:
Founded in 2002, the Bend Brewfest annually showcases the most creative and innovative craft breweries in the Pacific Northwest in a gorgeous setting along the banks of the Deschutes River in the Old Mill District. The Bend Brewfest has become known as an event where brewers can highlight their specialty, hard-to-find brews on the festival’s X-Taps.