Return to Avista in 2015
The Inland NW Craft Brew Festival will be back at Avista Stadium next September, though it likely lost money for a fifth straight year.
There were 2,784 admissions to the event Friday and Saturday, said Eric Radovich, executive director of the sponsoring Washington Beer Commission. That’s a little shy of the 3,000 or so needed to break even.
While final expenses won’t be in for another week or so, Radovich said, “It will probably leave us just a hair in the red.”
That’s still the best attendance yet for the event, topping the 2,650 recorded in 2012, when it was still known as Spokane Oktoberfest – and well above the 2,100 last year in cold, wet weather at the festival’s former home in Riverfront Park, where the commission lost more than $10,000.
“This was far and away the best year,” Radovich said. “The weather was perfect, the venue was great, the music was great, the food was fantastic, it was incident-free.
“People loved it, the breweries loved it. It’s just another step forward to creating a highly successful event.”
No significant changes are planned for next year’s festival, he said, since things went so smoothly.
This year’s attendees downed 25,562 five-ounce beer samples from the 32 breweries on hand, an average of almost 10 per person per day. No-Li Brewhouse led the way with the most pours, followed by River City, Fremont, Twelve String, Iron Goat, Hopped Up, Big Barn and Ramblin’ Road.