Another rally at Avista

Despite a cool, damp start, last weekend’s Inland Northwest Craft Beer Festival at Avista Stadium set a new record for attendance as well as breweries.

Paid admissions totaled 3,272, a 14 percent increase over last year, according to Eric Radovich, executive director of the sponsoring Washington Beer Commission. That follows a similar jump last year over 2014.

Attendees downed 30,565 five-ounce beer samples from 41 participating breweries during the two days, up from last year’s 25,979. Two-thirds of that came on Saturday, when the weather was sunny and warm after an unexpectedly nasty opening night.

“With the rain on Friday night we are thrilled with these numbers,” Radovich says. “It’s continuing to grow. We might be ready for some really big growth next year.”

For the first time, Saturday’s session was all-ages, with accompanied kids admitted free and special activities set up for them in right field. Around 100 children came in during the day.

The family-friendly aspect will be promoted more heavily next year, Radovich said, and there may be a new theme for the event, which started as Spokane Oktoberfest in 2010 before switching to the more generic name four years ago.

The brewery count will continue to be capped at around 40, he said. That was a sizable boost from last year’s 30.

Perennial favorite Fremont was the runaway winner in beer sales over the weekend, followed by Twelve String, No-Li, Hopped Up, Ten Pin and Paradise Creek.

North Idaho’s two participants had respectable showings, with Coeur d’Alene’s Daft Badger placing 11th and Moscow’s Rants & Raves 15th. Two newer Spokane breweries also attracted attention: Whistle Punk (which is nailing down a taproom location) at No. 14, and Young Buck (from the downtown brewery incubator) at No. 17.