By DOUG BATES/Editor Emeritus/The Herald — Whether your favorite beverage comes in a keg, or a cask or even a soda pop can, the good people of Oakridge will have it covered this Saturday, Nov. 6, during an eight-hour celebration packed with live music, food, beverages and fun.
It’s the 13th edition of the town’s Keg & Cask Festival, a unique Oakridge event that invites guests to enjoy a cold one while actually doing something good for the community.
By “cold one,” we mean the craft beer, ales, ciders, spirits and prize-winning Oregon wine that will be available for tasting at the event. By “something good,” we mean helping to raise money for the Oakridge Food Box, which serves a lot of families experiencing food insecurity these days.
“They’re hurting big-time,” Amy Kelley said of the local food pantry. “They get help from the county food bank, United Way and other sources, but this festival is the only direct fundraiser for the Oakridge Food Box,” and the event had to be canceled last year because of COVID-19.
It was almost canceled again this year — not because of the pandemic, but because of the wildfires that were raging late this summer on the Middle Fork Ranger District surrounding Oakridge and Westfir.
Instead, the festival was rescheduled. Normally an August street fair held in Uptown Oakridge, this year’s Keg & Cask Festival was supposed to take place on Aug. 21 but was moved to this Saturday, Nov. 6, to make sure the food box didn’t go yet another year without a fundraiser, said Kelley, who is chair of the festival committee.
This weekend’s extravaganza won’t be a street fair, but it will still be a COVID-safe outdoor event, held on the grounds of the city’s former shop building at 47899 Highway 58, just west of the Oakridge Assembly of God church.
Vendors will be set up outdoors at the shop with pop-up tents, “and we have two 20-by-40-foot party tents that will cover the beer garden, dance floor, dining area and so forth,” Kelley said.
Three bands will be taking the stage. First up is Pendleton Highway, a country band with Springfield roots. They go on at noon, when the festival begins, and perform until 2:30 p.m.
Then comes local favorite Kelly Thibodeaux and Etouffe, the nationally known Cajun swamp-rock group, on stage from 3 to 5:30 p.m.
The closing act will be Brian James and the Revival, a blues-soul band that’s heavily booked in the Eugene area this year, performing from 6 p.m. until the festival ends at 8.
A diverse variety of Oregon wineries and breweries will offer tastings, and a number of food and crafts vendors are registered to be on site. There is no charge for admission to the festival, although entry to the brew garden requires the purchase of tickets, which also get you a souvenir logo glass.
Founded in 2008 by local beer connoisseurs at the request of the Oakridge-Westfir Chamber of Commerce, the Keg & Cask Festival has steadily grown into a popular Lane County event. This year’s committee chair, Amy Kelley, is an Oakridge businesswoman and The Herald’s office manager and bookkeeper.
More information, including a list of sponsors, can be found on the festival’s website.
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