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History of the New England Brewfest

Tue, 03/03/2009 - 16:18 — nebrewfest_admin

The History of the New England Brewfest

In 2004, Scott Rice, owner of The Woodstock Station, proposed the idea of a brew festival, bringing all the New Hampshire micro-brewers together and giving the public an opportunity to sample their brews. It was a new and unique event to the Lincoln-Woodstock area and an exciting twist to their already popular event, Olde New England Day, held the third Saturday of June. Then Chamber Executive Director Brian McCarthy dubbed the event The Olde New England Day Brewfest and plans were rapidly put into place to hold the first ever event. 

It turned out to be quite an event to plan and organize. It required getting the participation of all the New Hampshire brewers, logistical stumbling blocks, and booking entertainment. Scott Rice, Garrett Smith and the gang at the Woodstock Station Brewery were instrumental in helping to make the event a success.
 
The event came together with the first year featuring Reggae music and, with much advertising and marketing, turned out to be a successful event with more than 150 people in attendance. 
 
Still, the Chamber wanted the event to grow and to eventually become one of the largest events of its type in New England. The Chamber sought the help of Willie Docto, who had been running the hugely successful Vermont Brewers Festival for many years, an event that draws tens of thousands of people to the shores of Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont each July. Docto help to organize the second year's event, which featured Rock and Blues music and, again, attendance climbed. Docto has stayed on to help with the event ever since 2005.
 
However, if the event was to truly reach its full potential, it was clear a new site with room for more people and with more visibility would have to be found. In 2008, new Chamber Executive Director Mark LaClair decided to move the event to the grounds of The Village Shops, right in the heart of Main Street, Lincoln. The event exploded with more than 800 people attending 2008's Fourth Annual Olde New England Day Brewfest, which has now taken its place as New Hampshire's only real brewfest and one of the largest events of its kind in New England.