Midwest Brewers Festival: Restoring a River, One Drink at a Time

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural Midwest Brewers Fest in Plainfield, IL. This eight-hour event was held at the Plainfield Riverfront. The purpose was to raise funds for the river restoration project and Pints for Prostates. This fest was also organized for the overall enjoyment a wide selection of craft beer.

While I try to be objective, I found that this is one of the best brewfests I’ve had the opportunity to attend over the past six years. While I wanted to keep my expectations low going into it, the continual online updates had me psyched and ready to enjoy myself. Leading up to the event, they boasted 57 breweries, a great food selection and bands. They did not disappoint.

The event excelled the key areas that can make or break an event: selection, crowd management, comfort, food and music. The organizers also provided some services that were total benefits and perks that exceeded my expectations.

Somehow this small community in Plainfield, IL was able to get participation from a number of amazing local and not-so-local breweries. They had their big name distributors like Stone, Samuel Adams, and New Belgium. But a good number of the vendors were from Chicago and other parts of Illinois. I was able to try 50 beers from 23 breweries that I had never tried before! For me, that makes their selection a raging success. I learned much more about the IL brew scene than I thought I would. In addition to the new-to-me breweries, they got involvement from two new brewers (5 Rabbits and Greenbush). That exceeded my expectations. Unlike the first annual Brew Haven, they didn’t rely on the home brewers to expand the collection. The homebrews were just plus to have. Point of me going = met.


Good crowd management is a big must for me. I cannot enjoy myself if I’m fighting for parking, standing in a long line to get it, pushing my way through a dense crowd to see what is available, and patiently waiting to get a 2 oz sample. Simply said, I thoroughly enjoyed myself with none of these issues. I felt like I could enjoy more brews with the relaxed atmosphere and short wait (if any).

Comfort is a big factor when trying to enjoy an outdoor event. This was scheduled for a summer day in late August. While the day was on the cool side for summer, the covered seating areas, tents for the brewers, and cooling stations made all the difference. With plenty of covered areas and large shading trees I stayed much longer than I would have and felt much better than if I were in the sun the whole time. They also had plenty of clean “facilities”, and that definitely adds a level of comfort to the venue. The whole area was very clean. The volunteers were really keeping up on picking up trash and making sure the trash cans were empty. It’s good to see that respect for the land.

You cannot have a good brew festival without good food to pair it with and keep you going. The seven food vendors covered a diverse selection. You could get some good comforting shepherd’s pie, gourmet sliders, greasy pizza, kabobs, unique cheesecake, and of course the much-talked-about chocolate covered turkey bacon. There was so much more available, and the prices were completely reasonable (free bacon-$8 combo meal).

The music fit my tastes, good old fashion folk and upbeat tunes. They had a nice wide-open space to enjoy the tunes and relax. The quality of the bands was good. I really, really appreciate them not blasting the music through the park. I could actually hear the people I was with and the brewers when they talked! I don’t really care that I didn’t get eight hours straight of music. I do think that the food and cigar area (where people sit) should have been closer to the stage. I understand having them at the end of the narrow park, it gave the perfect amount of room to relax and enjoy.

Three extra perks well exceeded my expectations: parking, the communications and the booklet.

They offered free parking at convenient locations with a free shuttle to the gate (minimal wait time).

The communication strategy was well executed. They had professional material (like the slick logo), and they took advantage of online tools. I never would have found out about it if it was not for their Facebook page, and I would have questioned the legitimacy without a first-class website. They also were super responsive to Facebook communications, provided continual status updates (even during the event) and kept their website updated up to the day of the event. They never dropped off.

The information booklet provided was well done. It had professional graphics, the information was clear, and it even had sections for notes next to the brewers (no need to try to remember names and cut down the note time for me). It helped me plan my day. It wasn’t so cluttered with ads that I couldn’t find what I needed. A definite perk for any event! It somehow feels more complete when I can satisfy my analytical side.

Any event has its drawbacks; although, in the afterglow of this event I’m pressed to think of a serious one. For a first-year event these organizers were right on the mark.