Gateway City Craft Beer & Wine Festival

Attendance far exceeds expectations

An estimated 2000 visitors flocked to Wilson Park last weekend for the 2021 Gateway City Craft Beer & Wine Festival. -SVT Photo by Tami Stevenson

By Tami Stevenson

Lake City, Fla., – The 2021 Gateway City Craft Beer & Wine Festival, held October 23, by the Lake City Chamber, was well attended this year. So well, in fact, organizers were even surprised as last year the event was canceled due to COVID.

“Obviously with a post COVID event, you never know what kind of numbers you’re going to get. Our goal for total ticket sales was 150,” said Lake City Chamber Executive Director Joey O’Hern. The event itself was free, but if visitors wanted to sample the beer and wine, tickets were needed. They were surprised to learn the night before the event they had already sold 389 tickets, more than doubling their original goal. “So clearly there’s a demand for it and the crowds are great. It’s bigger than we expected and people are still coming in.” O’Hern said the day of the event.

He said this year had a new addition. In the past they only had beer and wine, this year they added a Makers Market and divided it so the beer and wine were on one side and the craft vendors were on the other side at Wilson Park.

“There’s a little bit of something for everybody.” O’Hern added, “It’s a great event for the community to get them back downtown and get us back to normal. It’s an annual event so visitors can expect that we will be back in the fall of 2022.”

This year, he said, they had around twenty different beer vendors with approximately sixty different beers available for tasting, along with different wines.

Lake City’s own Halpatter Brewing Company had a tent set up with Holly Frazier and Shellie Young attending to a long, steady line of taste-testers. They offered two of their own brewed beer flavors, Coco Borracho and O’Leno Cream Ale. Holly Frazier and her husband, Johnny, do all the brewing. She said it takes anywhere from ten days to a month to brew beer, depending on the beer style. They do not bottle but offer the beer from tap and sell barrels through a distributor, statewide. Their yield is 14 to 15 half-barrels per brew or batch.

After the event, when all was counted and tallied, O’Hern said in an email that they sold over 500 tickets and had an estimated 2000 in attendance over all.

“The 2021 Gateway City Craft Beer & Wine Festival was a huge success. We are thrilled with the amount of people that came out and enjoyed the day and we’re already planning next year’s event. It wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible support of our sponsors and chamber volunteers,” said O’Hern.

Live entertainment by The Black River Harvesters -SVT Photo by Tami Stevenson

Shellie Young, left, volunteering with Holly Frazier from Halpatter Brewing Company during the event. -SVT Photo by Tami Stevenson

Land and Sea Meet Sky Studio was there with artist Karen Nelmes, of McAlpin. -SVT Photo by Tami Stevenson

Simple Elements Owner Jody Read said they opened up a manufacturing plant in Lake Butler. He said they produce over 2,000 gallons of the most powerful disinfectant on the planet and it’s all natural. No alcohol, no chemicals, no bleach. It’s made from Hypochlorous Acid (HOCL) which naturally occurs within the human body to fight infections. They make it at a much higher concentration and it is PH neutral. It is an alternative approach to harsh chemicals.
-SVT Photo by Tami Stevenson