Waterfront Blues Festival & Oregon Brewers Festival Are In July
Both are in July, a blues festival at the beginning of the month and a huge (and free!) craft beer festival the end of the month. Both take place in Tom MaCall Waterfront Park, which is a short and easy walk from anywhere downtown.
Here’s a look at each.
• Safeway Waterfront Blues Fest 2017
June 30-July 4
Five days of blues by the water, with 100 acts on four stages make this a very popular event. On July 4, it includes the largest fireworks show in Oregon. Be sure and check out Shari “El” Puorto, a dynamic rock & blues singer from Southern California.
This is not an expensive event; a 4-day pass is just $40, $35 if you buy it in advance.
“This festival is about so much more than the headliners,” said Artistic Director Peter Dammann. “It’s the spectacular riverfront setting, the righteous cause, the low cost and affordability, the fireworks; the after-hours shows, Blues cruises on the Willamette, workshops and Zydeco dance lessons – all of which makes Waterfront Blues Fest the entertainment deal of the summer.”
The 5-day festival benefits Oregon Food Bank to eliminate hunger in Oregon and Clark County, Washington.
Link: Waterfront Blues Fest Website
• Oregon Brewers Festival 2017
July 26-30
The biggest craft beer festival in the Pacific Northwest, this is a drop-everything weekend for locals; it’s that much of a draw and tradition in beer-drinking Portland.
Some 80,000 people go to it, drinking samples (multiple samples in many cases and why not, because the beer is so great) of Belgians, blondes, ales, stouts, lagers and every kind of beer imaginable, and that’s a lot to imagine in this home of craft beer.
Portland and Oregon breweries are featured, but there’s also nearly 100 breweries from primarily throughout the West Coast. As a bonus, there’s even live music.
This event is free to enter; you buy a plastic mug for $7 and tickets for beer samples are $1.
Link: Oregon Brewers Festival Website
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