Fest-of-Ale provides $35,000 to community groups

PENTICTON – The 2015 Okanagan Fest-of-Ale Craft Beer and Cider Festival gave back to the community following another successful festival earlier this year.

Okanagan Fest of Ale representatives distributed $35,000 back to the community last week during a presentation held at the Shatford Centre.

The annual Fest-of-Ale event, which takes place in early April, is one of the best known and well-respected events of its kind in the province, according to society President Randy Kirkoski, who says the 2015 version was a 'tremendous success.'

Twelve local groups were recipients of the funds, which included a $10,000 donation to the Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation. Other recipients included:

– Agur Lake Camp Society
– Community Foundation Okanagan Fest-of-Ale Legacy Fund
– Desert Valley Hospice Society
– Okanagan Boys and Girls Club
– Okanagan College Foundation
– Okanagan Similkameen Neurological Society
– Penticton and District Community Resources Society
– Penticton Seniors’ Drop-In Centre Society
– School District 67
– South Okanagan Victim Assistance Society
– Okanagan School of the Arts

The two-day consumer beer and cider tasting event has returned $537,660 in net proceeds to the community since its inception 20 years ago. A board of directors manages the festival and is staffed by volunteers. Next year’s Okanagan Fest-of-Ale takes place April 8 and 9, 2016.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.