It’s back! Downtown Prince George again will play host in January 2018 for the fourth annual Kiwanis AleFest, a craft festival weekend. The 2018 tasting sessions will take place on Friday, January 26th and Saturday, January 27th, 2018. Just like previous years, the Friday evening session will run from 7:30-10:30pm, while there will be two sessions on Saturday, from 3:00-6:00pm and 7:30-10:30pm.
Tickets for the 2018 tasting sessions go on sale Wednesday, November 1st at 8am, only through the Kiwanis AleFest website at www.kiwanisalefest.ca. Ticket prices are $63 per person, with each ticket including 6 craft beer tasting tokens, free tapas, music, a great silent auction, and access to the art in the Rustad Galleria and Canfor Galleries. Interested event attendees should be prepared, as last year’s tickets sold out at an astonishing rate of just 10 minutes time.
Kiwanis Prince George, the local community service organization that organizes the annual event, is still surprised with how Prince George has come to embrace the charity fundraiser event. Amy Dhanjal, the Kiwanis AleFest Lead for Venue & Logistics explains that “our organizing team started off four years ago with the idea in mind to provide Prince George residents with a great mid-winter event, and to raise money for charities like the Ronald McDonald House of BC and other Kiwanis kids projects within our community.” Dhanjal further elaborates, “we have a tremendous partner in the Two Rivers Gallery that we are so pleased to work with. They have been our home for all four years of this event, and their team has been so wonderful in allowing us to hold our event in their gallery.”
Along with the regular Kiwanis AleFest sessions held at the Two Rivers Gallery, committee chair Bjorn Butow explains that “Kiwanis AleFest is the great Northern BC craft beer festival, held annually on the last weekend of January. The festival features two Brewmaster’s Dinners held at downtown hotels, three tasting sessions at the Two Rivers Gallery, and an all weekend Cask Beer Experience.” Started in 2015, the event has had tremendous support from the community and has grown steadily each year. Hosted in the heart of the city, all events occur in downtown Prince George. Butow further explains, “these guided Brewmaster’s Dinners will provide folks the chance to meet the brewmasters, and sample craft beer specially selected and paired with each course of the dining experience.”
By holding this event downtown, Bailee Toll, the Kiwanis AleFest Lead for Silent Auctions, hopes this encourages attendees to visit local restaurants before or after their choice of Kiwanis AleFest entertainment. “We have so many wonderful downtown restaurants where people can enjoy a great meal during the Cask Experience Weekend. Throughout the weekend, craft beer lovers can visit and taste some limited edition specially prepared cask conditioned ales, prepared just for that weekend only.”
For more information on Kiwanis AleFest, Kiwanis Cask Beer Weekend, or the Kiwanis AleFest Brewmaster’s Dinners, follow along on the Kiwanis AleFest Faceook page, or visit their website at www.kiwanisalefest.ca.
Kiwanis (meaning “we trade” or “we share our talents”) is a non-profit volunteer community service organization with a long history since it’s founding by business professionals in Prince George in 1954. Kiwanis Prince George is part of a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. Kiwanis is one of the “big three” global community service organizations (others being Rotary and Lions), and now has nearly 600,000 members worldwide. With their recent growth and resurgence, Kiwanis Prince George has almost 40 working and retired business professionals that meet regularly for lunch meetings, social events and to take on community projects. www.facebook.com/kiwanisprincegeorge