The second annual Beerfest took place at Selkirk College on Saturday, improving on last year's attendance.
The event was hosted by the Castlegar Sunrise 2000 Rotary Club, and there were at least 150 in attendance at any given time.
“We've got a lot more people through than last year. I think it's going really well,” said Shannan Latkin, the Beerfest committee chair, early in the evening.
There weren't just more attendees, there were also more vendors that last year.
There were nine BC breweries compared to last year's six and two cideries compared to last year's one.
BC Tree Fruits Cider Company was the new cidery on the block, promoting its Broken Ladder cider.
“We launched the cider in April, and we thought [this] would be a good opportunity to be involved in the Kootenays here,” said Shannon Forgeus, marketing and promotions. “We heard that a lot of people come from all over, so we thought we'd come and showcase the Broken Ladder to a new area.”
Local breweries included Torchlight Brewing Company from Nelson and Nelson Brewing Company.
Attendees were given a 5 oz. glass at the entrance, as well as one free beer token, and were invited to sample at their leisure.
Each token was $2 and was worth one small glass of beer, a pretzel or a bag of nuts. Smokies and small plate of oysters went for three tokens each.
Reiss Zibin performed at the event and at the after party at the Element. She and her band played both original songs and covers by artists like Pink, Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne.
Money raised at the even will go towards Rotary projects.
“The Rotary uses the money raised through this event to help fund their projects locally and internationally,” said Latkin.
Last year's contributions helped fund the pavilion at Millenium Park and went toward HELP Honduras.