Northern Mettle and Beer
Have to say I’m so proud of the Northern spirit after seeing the big turnout at the Traverse City Microbrew and Music Festival Saturday evening.
The day couldn’t have been worse for an August outdoor event. Rain began sometime early in the a.m. and came down hard and steady all day. Sure, occasionally there was some brief reprieve, but that only seemed to give the storm time to gather more water from somewhere, somehow. Truly, the day was one of the rainiest I’ve seen in years, and the sky never brightened beyond dark moody gray-black.
As time neared for the gate opening, I couldn’t help but wonder, will my Northern homies burrow in around the television and drink alone, or will they say, What the heck, don the raingear, gather with friends, listen to great music and enjoy beers from nearly 30 microbrewers from around Northern Michigan, the Midwest and beyond? Seems like an obvious choice, but you never know, right?
We at MyNorth.com, as a sponsor of the event, had a booth perched right by the entry gate, and so I got a good take on what was shaping up crowd-wise. And it was an amazing thing to behold. People were lined up chatting, smiles on their faces, rain pouring down, more rain coming over the big ridge behind Building 50, more rain on the radar, rain puddling on the ground, running off awnings, blowing into the booths themselves.
And the people just hung out, wandered among the trees, listened to the music and kept their beer glasses filled with some of America’s most flavorful brews (and wine from Black Star Farms). I came away thinking the rain almost made things better because it became so ridiculous that people had no choice but to laugh and go with it. The only thing that would have made it better is if it had snowed (well, maybe not).
Anyway, cheers to a great event and hoping Sam Porter at Porterhouse Productions tees another one up next year.
Am thinking of one of my favorite sayings: No such thing as bad weather, just bad gear.
And a brew fest corollary: No such thing as bad weather, especially when there's good beer.
Way to represent, Northerners!
Also ... check out these pix and these from the event. We asked people to write their favorite beer flavor on a white-board and smile for the camera. Great images--you'll see what I mean about the spirit shining through. Also, you can vote for your favorite in the comment box.
(I also suggest checking out this brew fest piece Deb Fellows wrote on our homepage--where you can also share some thoughts.)
And one more thing ... believe it or not, this photo below shows the total amount of garbage that went to the landfill after an event of 3,000 people. Everything else was recycled/composted. That seemingly impossible accomplishment is a result of hard work by the Michigan Land Use Institute and a few of their partners in the TC 350 project (a global warming solutions group) strategizing the waste management possibilities. Really remarkable feat. Proves that Northern Michigan people not only drink good beer, but are environmentally conscious about it. Dang we are good.
Jeff Smith is editor of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine
The day couldn’t have been worse for an August outdoor event. Rain began sometime early in the a.m. and came down hard and steady all day. Sure, occasionally there was some brief reprieve, but that only seemed to give the storm time to gather more water from somewhere, somehow. Truly, the day was one of the rainiest I’ve seen in years, and the sky never brightened beyond dark moody gray-black.
As time neared for the gate opening, I couldn’t help but wonder, will my Northern homies burrow in around the television and drink alone, or will they say, What the heck, don the raingear, gather with friends, listen to great music and enjoy beers from nearly 30 microbrewers from around Northern Michigan, the Midwest and beyond? Seems like an obvious choice, but you never know, right?
We at MyNorth.com, as a sponsor of the event, had a booth perched right by the entry gate, and so I got a good take on what was shaping up crowd-wise. And it was an amazing thing to behold. People were lined up chatting, smiles on their faces, rain pouring down, more rain coming over the big ridge behind Building 50, more rain on the radar, rain puddling on the ground, running off awnings, blowing into the booths themselves.
And the people just hung out, wandered among the trees, listened to the music and kept their beer glasses filled with some of America’s most flavorful brews (and wine from Black Star Farms). I came away thinking the rain almost made things better because it became so ridiculous that people had no choice but to laugh and go with it. The only thing that would have made it better is if it had snowed (well, maybe not).
Anyway, cheers to a great event and hoping Sam Porter at Porterhouse Productions tees another one up next year.
Am thinking of one of my favorite sayings: No such thing as bad weather, just bad gear.
And a brew fest corollary: No such thing as bad weather, especially when there's good beer.
Way to represent, Northerners!
Also ... check out these pix and these from the event. We asked people to write their favorite beer flavor on a white-board and smile for the camera. Great images--you'll see what I mean about the spirit shining through. Also, you can vote for your favorite in the comment box.
(I also suggest checking out this brew fest piece Deb Fellows wrote on our homepage--where you can also share some thoughts.)
And one more thing ... believe it or not, this photo below shows the total amount of garbage that went to the landfill after an event of 3,000 people. Everything else was recycled/composted. That seemingly impossible accomplishment is a result of hard work by the Michigan Land Use Institute and a few of their partners in the TC 350 project (a global warming solutions group) strategizing the waste management possibilities. Really remarkable feat. Proves that Northern Michigan people not only drink good beer, but are environmentally conscious about it. Dang we are good.
Jeff Smith is editor of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine
Tags: building 50, mynorth.com, sam porter, traverse city, traverse city microbew and ...
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