The Kona Brewers Festival moves into 2018 as a million-dollar-plus fundraiser for local organizations serving the environment, education, culture and youth over its 22 year history. Good beer, great food, trash fashion and fun in the sun are just some of the reasons for coming together to celebrate craft beer, organizers said.
The festival will take place at Courtyard King Kamehmeha’s Kona Beach Hotel in Kailua Kona Village from 3 to 7 p.m.
Kona Brewers Festival. PC Kona Brewers Festival
This springtime event is a collaboration of more than 500 people from various groups and businesses, and remains focused on community and natural resources.
After testing a shorter two session format for the past two years, the festival will join all ticket holders together into one extended session on Saturday, March 10, 2018.
New this year will be an upgraded ticket that allows access to Honu’s Tap Room and Lounge for a special connoisseurs area with additional tastes and activities.
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The day kicks off with the Run for Hops, a family-friendly 5k run/walk and 10k run that helps support the festival’s beneficiary organizations and the PATH Bike Safety Education Program for Hawaiʻi Island. In a spirit of pūalu (working together), 36 chefs and 36 brewers showcase their tastes on the beautiful lūʻau grounds of the Courtyard King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel.
Tickets for the event are $85 to support island beneficiary organizations focused on environment, education, culture and youth.
Admission to the four-hour festival includes:
Commemorative glass mug
Ten brew tasting coupons
Unlimited sampling of gourmet cuisine
An afternoon of entertainment
The legendary Trash Fashion show
Some of Hawaiʻi’s best musical groups
A limited number of Honu’s Taproom and Lounge Connoisseurs Tickets are available at $185 to support island beneficiary organizations. These upgraded tickets include all General Admission amenities plus admission to the festival and Honu’s Taproom & Lounge for a five-hour festival.
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Special Honu tickets offer special beer and food pairings, entertainment, educational talks by local brewers in air-conditioned seating and access to move between the lounge and general areas. This ticket is a bargain for connoisseurs and extreme beer lovers, while further supporting the fundraising efforts of the festival. The lounge will be open from 2 to 4:30 p.m.
The festival is made possible by more than 15 nonprofits that donate their volunteers to staff the event. In turn, the festival proceeds provide a financial gift to fund local work year-round.
“All the Beneficiaries volunteer in some way to make the Kona Brewers Festival a success” said Kona Brewers Festival Executive Director Kate Jacobson. “These nonprofit organizations do critical work to make our island and the world a better place.”
In addition to funding island programs, this event on the shores of Kamakahonu Bay diverts 90% of the festival’s waste from landfills, much of it becoming soil for Hawaiʻi Island chool gardens.
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The Kona Brewers Festival proudly accepted the 2017 Hawaiʻi Green Business Award, and to offset the carbon impact of flying to Honolulu to accept the award, robinia trees were given to beneficiary organizations to plant throughout the island.
After 22 years operating under the auspices of the Oregon-based Bill Healy Foundation, the Kona Brewers Festival is proud to announce the launch of their very own Ke Kai Ala Foundation, a locally based foundation created to advance the values of the Kona Brewers Festival.
Ke Kai Ala and Kona Brewers Festival values include:
Community collaboration: cultivating aloha among diverse groups through celebration that benefits nonprofits
Sustainable Legacy: perpetuating a model of interconnectedness between humans, culture and environment
Responsible Guidance: acting with integrity and generosity for future generations
Ke Kai Ala represents the path to the sea, and our responsibility as island residents to the aina and all things connected.
Ticket sales begin on Saturday, Dec. 16, 2017, at 11 a.m., online only.
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