Oakridge Keg & Cask Festival to turn up the heat next Saturday

All systems are a GO! The 14th annual Oakridge Keg & Cask Festival will be arriving again next Saturday, August 13th, from 3-11pm. This event is a fundraiser for the Oakridge Food Box program. All proceeds go to support this very important local service.

A good, old fashioned street fair

The event is free to the public. All ages are welcome. There will be a beer garden where adults can purchase tickets to sample beers, ciders, and wines from around the state. Food vendors will be cooking festival favorites that will be sure to satisfy. There will also be craft and other non-food vendors lining 1st Street between Oak Street and Alder. Oh, and by the way, the Keg & Cask Festival is one of the only street festivals that provide shade. Pop-up tents, seating, and tables are available to get you out of the sun and to rest your weary bones as you enjoy the festival.

Music, music and more music

As always, there will be live music all day long. The Elena Leona Project (ELP), an old favorite at the Keg & Cask Festivals, starts things kickin’ around three o’clock. The Eugene Weekly says the ELP…”is sizzle, spice, and everything nice”. Elena really gets the crowd moving with her contagious energy.

Next on the lineup is The Vipers. A past winner of the Eugene Weekly Readers’ Poll as “Best Local Blues Band”, The Vipers have been a festival favorite at events throughout the Pacific Northwest and in several countries in Europe.

 

 

 

 

Last to take the stage will be local favorite and celebrity Kelly Thibodeaux & Etouffee Band. If you haven’t rocked to “swamp rock” you haven’t rocked all yet. Your feet will be jumpin’ and you’ll be slappin” your knee with Kelly’s brand of Louisianna rock. This guy is hot and so is his fiddle.

The Oakridge Keg and Cask Festival was founded in 2008 by local beer  connoisseurs at the request of the Oakridge-Westfir Chamber of Commerce. The Oakridge Keg & Cask Festival has steadily grown into the signature event of the summer.

Our event coordinators strive to find craft beer, ciders, and mead you can’t easily find in retail outlets. They search the Oregon borders from North to South, East to West and all points in between to bring the most interesting new drafts to you. Renowned for flavorful varietals, wines from the Willamette Valley pour as easily as the grapes grow in the heart of Western Oregon.

Supporting our food box

For those of us fortunate enough to go out and explore new libations and food, know that every cent you spend goes to the less fortunate in our community who cannot always afford to put food on the table. Oakridge Food Box is the direct beneficiary of months of planning that culminates in one day of festivities in the historic Uptown District of Oakridge, Oregon.

Food box facts

 

The Oakridge food box has been in service to the community for nearly 30 years

Bev McCulley has been the Upper Willamette Community Development Corporations’ (UWCDC) representative to the festival since its inception. In 2021 the food box:

• served 500 households
• 1,300 individuals from those households were given food
• 3,000 boxes of food were distributed
• over twenty volunteers keep the food box running
•  UWCDC is a partner with Food for Lane County and the United Way of Lane County
• proceeds from the Keg & Cask help with recurring expenses and maintenance
• vegan options are available
• the food box purchases additional seasonal foodstuffs during holidays

The Food Box hours of operation:

Tues. & Wed. 9-1pm at Westridge Middle School

They are at St. Vincent DePaul on highway 58 in Oakridge on Thursdays from 10:30-1pm.

Those who might consider volunteering with this worthwhile organization can stop by the Westridge location during their hours of operation.