Auburn’s annual beer festival has a chance at national recognition.
Held in March, the Brave Brews Festival is the city’s annual celebration of women and non-binary individuals in the craft beverage industry as well as the kick-off to Women’s History Month. This year, the three-day event has been selected as one of 20 nominees for USA Today’s 10 Best Beer Festivals list.
Courtney Kasper is the Visitor Experience Manager at the Equal Rights Heritage Center which helps administer the event. She told Finger Lakes News Radio it was a pleasant surprise to learn the festival was nominated.
“We received an email from USA Today. It was a shock and a surprise to all of us,” she said. “Of course, we know that Brave Brews weekend has been one the most successful events we’ve all collaborated on, but it was nice to receive that email.”
According to Kaper, a panel of experts selected 20 beer festivals from across the country, including Brave Brews, to be nominees. The nominees then go to a public vote where the top ten will be recognized. She believes the Auburn event has a good chance of winning as it brings something unique to the table.
“There’s not quite [another festival] that’s as unique as tying together our history but also the culture that we have here, the really strong agriculture we have here with the beer industry. So, we think that we have a very unique product and we’re very proud of it,” said Kasper.
Typically, the festival begins on the first Friday of March to tie in with First Friday events across downtown Auburn, concluding on the following Sunday. This year, however, Kasper said the dates were changed. For 2024, Brave Brews will run from Friday, March 8, to Sunday, March 10. This means the event will coincide with International Women’s Day (March 8) and Harriet Tubman Day (March 10).
Launched in 2022, the Brave Brews Festival is presented by the City of Auburn and is a collaboration between multiple entities including the city’s Historic & Cultural Sites Commission and the Equal Rights Heritage Center.
Voting for the top ten list can be done once a day from now until noon on February 26. You can vote for Brave Brews here.
