Newest Interior beer festival promises greatness

KELOWNA – The Great Okanagan Beer Festival in Kelowna next weekend is all about the world of craft beer.

The main event is Saturday, May 9 in Waterfront Park on Okanagan Lake with an estimated 2,500 people expected to sample beers from over 40 breweries.

Gibbons Festivals and Events have three days of events planned from May 7 to 9 at various pubs and bars around Kelowna, with a pre-party in Penticton.

The $41 ticket gets you access to the sampling portion of the festival in Waterfront Park from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., five sampling tickets, a sampling mug and a souvenir guide book.  You also get access to exclusive cask events, along with beer and brewing seminars.

“We were thrilled when Tourism Kelowna reached out to us at the end of last year to ask if we’d host a beer festival in their home town,” Gibbons events manager Liam Peyton said in a media release. “At Gibbons we believe in really working with the community to create events that increase business, put the experience of the guest first and make people happy.”

The company’s first event was the Whistler Village Beer Festival in 2013.

Public access to Waterfront Park will be restricted starting Friday morning as event organizers begin the setup, according to a media release from the City of Kelowna, although the lakefront promenade will stay open.

“Waterfront Park will be open to ticket holders only starting at noon on Saturday, May 9,” the city’s Tom Wilson says in the release.

You can get more information about parking, road closures and potential delays at the city’s website.

For a look at the schedule of events and to buy tickets, check out the Beer Festival website.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca or call 250-491-0331. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.