|
Cool people, good beer, great music |
|
|
Thursday, 07 August 2008 |
 Cathy, Kim, Dave, Mary and Rich from Ventura are a mix of seven-year veterans and first-timers to Bluesapalooza.
It was wall-to-wall happy people this weekend at the 13th annual Bluesapalooza. What had started out as a relatively small, but quality beer fest has steadily grown into a signature Mammoth summer event.
“It was a total local scene,” said Todd Olsen of the first Bluesapalooza. Olsen, a former Mammoth resident, has attended every year so far and watched it grow. “It has just exploded.”
This year, the line to enter Sam's Wood Site stretched 70 yards at the event's start. “I know 70 yards, I used to play football,” said Randy Van Vliet of Granada Hills, Calif. “And that was for pre-paid people.”
Van Vliet has been coming to Bluesapalooza for seven years and had plans to indulge another of his hobbies after the weekend event. “I came to ride,” the avid mountain biker smiled over his sample from the Kern River Brewing Co.
A checklist of all the various breweries was available for those on a mission to sample from each of the 65 breweries represented this year, but many seemed to stick around their favorites.
“It's the biggest I've seen it,” said Steve Niles, of Newport Beach Brewing Co., who has been bringing his brews for the last eight years. “We want to get the word out. It's about enjoying good beer and having a good time.”
Another sign of the event's growth was it's ability to draw in big name performers Johnny Lang, Coco Montoya, and Devon Allman's Honeytribe (son of Gregg Allman), just to name a few. These artists played to full audiences in the idyllic outdoor setting that Mammoth is known for. Though many brought lawn chairs and relaxed with a cool beer to enjoy the great blues, the majority of the crowd danced, applauded and cheered in the standing-room only 50-60 yards space in front of the stage.
A positive mood prevailed over the entire event as indicated by the full smiles and empty beer glasses.
“There's a lot of security this year, so that's good,” said Chris Sheldon of Alaskan Brewing Co. He acknowledged that a certain amount of overindulgence is inevitable at any beer festival, but that this year seemed to be going particularly well, especially considering the size of the event.
Though beer may not be everyone's cup of tea, it's hard to deny that as the Bluesapalooza event keeps getting bigger and better.
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 14 August 2008 )
|
