Thursday, May 23, 2013
The festival will return to Plainfield in August.
For the third year, brew enthusiasts can enjoy craft beers and artisan foods along Plainfield’s riverfront during Midwest Brewers Fest. Village trustees on Monday authorized Mayor Mike Collins to executive a license agreement to allow the 2013 event to take place on Aug. 24, at Riverfront Park, 24321 W. Lockport St., located east of Village Hall on the west side of downtown Plainfield. After getting off to a rocky start in its first year, the event returned to Plainfield last summer in what organizers called a “screaming success.” In just six hours, the 2012 event raised $41,000 — including $25,000 that was donated to the Plainfield Riverfront Foundation. Under the license agreement, Midwest Brewers Fest Inc. will have to pay the village $…
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
The Plainfield Hometown Irish Parade will return this St. Patrick’s Day, while Plainfield Fest and the Midwest Brewers Festival are a go for summer 2013.
Winter is well under way, but Plainfield trustees were planning ahead for summer Monday as they signed off on plans for this year’s Plainfield Fest and Midwest Brewers Festival. The village board also approved road closures for the Village Preservation Association's 2013 Plainfield Hometown Irish Parade, which is set to step off at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 17. The event, which got its start as a small neighborhood St. Patrick’s Day celebration, drew more than 6,000 spectators last year, according to Tom Ruane of the Village Preservation Association. Eleven years later, the parade has made its way into downtown Plainfield and is held in conjunction with a fundraiser for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. “It grows every year because of everyone’s …
Friday, August 17, 2012
Celebrating craft brews, the event will host more than 50 brewpubs and breweries this year.
After getting off to a bit of a rocky start in its first year out — the inaugural fest failed to reach its fundraising goal, prompting scrutiny of its finances — the Midwest Brewers Fest will return to Riverfront Park next Saturday, Aug. 25. Featuring craft beers and artisan foods, the event will kick off at 1 p.m. Guests who purchased VIP passes, which are now sold out, will get in an hour early and receive perks like special tastings, food, a commemorative T-shirt and VIP on-site parking. Rahul Wahi, who volunteered at last year’s Midwest Brewers Fest, came on board this year as an organizer and said he hopes to create an “iconic” event for the village. “I wanted to really showcase Plainfield, the dedicated local businesses and …
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
While the August event was deemed a public success, it was an "organizational failure," fest board President Rex Slagel says.
Midwest Brewers Fest organizers were told Monday it’s likely their craft beer event will be approved again for 2012, but the Plainfield Village Board wants to see a line-by-line breakdown of their 2011 income and expenditures before giving the OK. Questions have arisen over why the August festival, which drew more than 1,900 people to Riverfront Park, did not produce any money for the Plainfield Riverfront Foundation. When originally approved by the village board, it was promised that as much as $40,000 would be raised for the group. Rex Slagel, president of the newly formed Midwest Brewers Fest Board of Directors, told the village board it was a mistake to have made any promises of profit. While the event was deemed a public success, …
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Unexpected costs, low ticket sales on day of the event hurt, but merchandise sales will bring in money, Steve Caton says. (Take our poll at the end of this story.)
Midwest Brewers Fest numbers are still not final, but it’s possible the event won’t make a profit – at least not yet. Organizer Steve Caton said miscalculated and unplanned costs coupled with a lower-than-anticipated ticket sales on the day of the Aug. 27 event have eaten into the money the fest might have made, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a success nor does it mean they won’t do it again next year. And if they’re able to market the merchandise that wasn’t sold that day – T-shirts, baseball caps, beer glasses and other items – that money will go directly to the Plainfield Riverfront Foundation, the nonprofit group that was to be the beneficiary of money made by the Riverfront Park craft beer event, he said. “Do I regret saying we were …
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Co-founder Steve Caton said that other than running short of ice, the event was well-received and went off as planned.
They came from California, Massachusetts and all over the Midwest, in pursuit of fun, sun and, of course, beer. And at the end of the day, it appeared the 3,000-plus people who flooded the Plainfield riverfront Saturday left satisfied, as did the 57 local and national breweries that made up the inaugural Midwest Brewers Fest in Plainfield. “My job right is now is making sure everyone is happy,” said Steve Caton, fest co-founder and owner of Limestone Brewing Company in Plainfield. “I see the few little small things we have to correct, but for the most part, everyone seems very happy and very surprised about how big it is and (how) beautiful the riverfront is. I love the turnout so far. The weather is great, but this is an experience we …
Friday, August 26, 2011
The park was meant to be a "genteel" escape from grimy Chicago, where family values were promoted and alcohol not allowed, Plainfield historian Michael Lambert says.
It's ironic that the craft beer festival being held Saturday to raise money to restore Electric Park would have been expressly forbidden back at the turn of the 20th century, when the park was in its heyday. According to Plainfield historian Michael Lambert, the park had “strict rules of conduct to promote a family and upstanding atmosphere. … Besides alcohol being prohibited on the grounds, smoking and spitting were prohibited as well.” He finds it “mildly amusing” that the Midwest Brewers Fest is being used to promote the once-alcohol-free park’s redevelopment, but times have changed in this way and many others, he said. “It is no different than thinking about the changes in mode of dress from those days to the present – no one would …
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Saturday's Midwest Brewers Festival is expected to draw more than 3,500 and will raise money for the Plainfield Riverfront Foundation and Pints for Prostates.
What do the names Dogfish Head, Big Muddy, Smuttynose and Clown Shoes have in common? If you know the answer, chances are you already know about the huge festival in Plainfield Saturday. If you don’t, fest organizers hope you’ll stop on by, too, and try something new. Dogfish Head, Big Muddy, Smuttynose and Clown Shoes will be among 57 breweries serving up samples at the Midwest Brewers Fest, which is expected to attract some 3,500 attendees on the west side of downtown Plainfield. “Plainfield’s never seen anything like this,” said Steve Caton, an owner of Limestone Brewing Company in Plainfield who created the inaugural event with a dedicated army of volunteers. “It’s the only giant outdoor beer fest of its kind in Illinois. With 57 …
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Michael Lambert believes the newly discovered flagpole had been donated to the Plainfield Police Department for a dog training site.
Plainfield historian and architect Michael Lambert is siding with Plainfield Police Cmdr. Kevin Greco in the case of the mysterious flagpole. As you may recall, Midwest Brewers Fest workers found the pole last month while cleaning up the western bank of the DuPage River, near where the Electric Park grandstand once stood. Since then we've been trying to verify if it's a remnant from Plainfield’s old vacation resort of the early 1900s, as the brew fest crew postulated. Not likely, Lambert says. The pole probably dates back to a police dog training course, as Greco speculated, but Lambert places the K-9 program on the site in the early 1980s, rather than the '60s or '70s. The flagpole, Lambert says, is likely the one that Plainfield Township…
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Pole was found in area where park once stood but no photos can be found to verify it was part of old resort.
Last week we told readers about what appears to be a flagpole found by volunteers cleaning up the banks of the DuPage River in preparation for Midwest Brewers Fest. While pulling all manner of trash from the woods and water in the area that used to be Plainfield’s old summer resort Electric Park, workers found what appears to be a flagpole tilting from a pile of shattered concrete. They were about to yank it out and toss it on the junk pile when somebody said, “Wait, that might be a relic from the Electric Park era.” So, instead of scrapping the pole, they set it upright and left it for posterity. “We mean to work with the historical society on it, but we’re so busy getting ready for the brew fest, nobody’s gotten around to it yet,” said …
Ed Arter
9:55 am on Friday, May 24, 2013
@ Mark --We would need a creative,intelligent,mature,imaginitive,accurate,mind to pull it off-- I think Jono100 would be a prime candidate. :0)--how about a helping hand J100? more ›