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

Falling off summer

Rick Bonino

The calendar says it’s still summer (though the weather may not necessarily agree), but that’s not stopping Schweitzer Mountain Resort from staging another Fall Fest.

The annual Labor Day weekend celebration marking the close of summer operations at the Sandpoint-area ski hill runs from Saturday through Monday, with live music, food and arts vendors and more than 60 craft beers and ciders on tap.

Look for the recently released 10th anniversary imperial barrel-aged rye from nearby Laughing Dog; Deschutes’ big Black Butte XXVII anniversary imperial porter; Rogue’s crisp 19 Original Colonies mead; the Apricot and Corduroy from Coeur d’Alene’s Summit Cider; and Wallace Brewing’s popular Huckleberry Shandy (for that last blast of summer).

Plus there’s plenty more from the likes of 10 Barrel, 21st Amendment, Alaskan, Bale Breaker, Ballast Point, Big Sky, Daft Badger, Downdraft, Firestone Walker, Good Life, Green Flash, Iron Horse, MickDuff’s, New Belgium, Ninkasi, No-Li, Odell, Orlison, Oskar Blues, River City, Sierra Nevada, Slate Creek, Sockeye, Stone and Trickster’s, as well as ciders by Whiskey Barrel, Spire and Angry Orchard. Kids can mix their own flavors in the soda tent.

Tasting packages – you get a glass, and your first three tokens to fill it – range from $10 for a 6.75 ounce taster to $22 for a full pint to $35 for a 20-ounce ceramic mug, with other options in between (plus wine and soda packages). In case some of the glassware sells out during the weekend, you can place your order in advance through Thursday night.

The music lineup features Cathedral Pearls at 11 a.m., Dimestore Prophets at 1:30 p.m. and Devon Wade at 4 p.m. on Saturday; Spare Parts at 11, the Miah Kohal Band at 1 and Strictly Business at 3 on Sunday; and Rust on the Rails at 11:30 and all-female AC/DC tribute band Hell’s Belles at 2:30 on Sunday.

The chairlift will be open for sightseeing, hiking and mountain biking at a discounted full-day rate starting at 11 each morning. Look here for more information.