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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Return to Avista in 2015

Rick Bonino

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.