Attendees can find art and craft beer at the eighth annual Brew Arts Festival on Sept. 29. File Photo/The Lion’s Roar
The eighth annual Brews Arts Festival will bring together art and craft beer for an upcoming fundraiser.
The Hammond Regional Arts Center will hold the festival on Friday, Sept. 29 from 5-9 p.m. in the Morrison Alley Parking Lot. Attendees can buy advance tickets at a discount or $30 at the door.
“Brews Arts Festival is a special event fundraiser benefiting the Hammond Regional Arts Center and its mission to support, promote and coordinate visual, performing and literary arts in Tangipahoa Parish and the surrounding parishes,” said HRAC Executive Director Katherine Marquette. “It is one of our most important fundraising events of the year. The proceeds, which are raised as a result, allow the Hammond Regional Arts Center to be open to the public, free of charge, and provide the community with high-quality arts experiences throughout the year.”
Live music, live art demonstrations, food and varieties of beer will offer attendees entertainment Friday afternoon.
“Gnarly Barley is returning this year,” said Marquette. “New this year is Low Road, both awesome craft breweries. We’ll also have four major distributors ensuring a great variety. Bruce Hume and Marion Ochs will be on site doing live painting demonstrations throughout the evening. Also on the scene will be the SLU Ceramics Club who will be on site selling pottery and doing live throwing demonstrations on the potter’s wheel.”
According to Marquette, the event will uphold the traditions of past Brew Arts Festivals and continue for years to come.
“Brews Arts Festival has been an overwhelming success, such a success that I cannot imagine it ever going away,” said Marquette. “In fact, when speaking about Brews Arts Festival, I usually tell them to get out their calendars and to mark themselves busy on the last Friday in September for the next 10 years. Year after year, it is always the last Friday in September.”
Marquette shared the initial inspiration for the event.
“The initial Brew Arts Festival was held at the suggestion of HRAC Board Member Pat Macaluso,” said Marquette. “Back then, Pat’s daughter worked at the Acadiana Arts Center in Lafayette, LA, which held a similar style event. The event was a success there, so HRAC decided to give it a shot here in Hammond.”
Marquette discussed the preparation devoted to the Brew Arts Festival.
“Brews Arts Festival is a massive undertaking, which requires much in the way of planning and preparation,” said Marquette. “There have been many in the past who have worked diligently to shape it into the smoothly running success that it is, people like former Operations Manager Daphne Hebert and former Board President Phillip Colwart. This year, HRAC is honored to have the one and only Lacy Landrum leading the charge as Brews Arts Festival Chairperson. Lacy Landrum is the most amazing, capable leader I have ever met. With her at the helm, this year is sure to be the very best yet.”
