NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, Sept. 25.
PORT ANGELES — This is new ground we’re breaking, but let’s go for it.
Such is the attitude of the Port Angeles Downtown Association, which plunges today into the inaugural Arts & Draughts festival of beer, wine, cider, root beer, art and music.
Eighteen wineries and breweries, seven bands, six food and espresso carts and 27 art vendors constitute the event, which will stretch — along a pedestrian-only Laurel Street — from the Conrad Dyar Memorial Fountain north nearly to the Railroad Avenue intersection.
Setup is underway downtown this morning for Arts & Draughts, which has its kickoff tonight with the “Bier Cart” and a concert by the rock and blues band Whiskey Syndicate from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
“The Bier Cart is actually a large truck dispensing a wide assortment of beers,” said organizer Richard Stephens, adding that this is a mere sample of what’s to come Saturday and Sunday.
The art vendors, essentially a free art show with displays and demonstrations, will open at 10 a.m. both days; then the beer, wine and cider will flow from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
As for the live music, it’ll run from 12:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
For the first time in years, a block and a half of Laurel Street is closed to motor traffic. But Railroad Avenue and the two parking lots near the Black Ball ferry building will be open and accessible throughout the weekend, Stephens emphasized.
Laurel Street’s downtown blocks will stay closed to cars today through Sunday night at about 9 o’clock, he noted.
Arts & Draughts is both a showcase — with free admission for those who want to hear the live music, visit the kids’ zone and see the artists’ booths — and a fundraiser for the Port Angeles Downtown Association.
Tickets to the beer-wine-cider garden are $20 in advance via www.pabrewfest.brownpapertickets.com and $25 at the gate each day.
Patrons must be 21 or older of course; a ticket buys an Arts & Draughts logo glass, a card for tasting notes and a wristband good for 2-ounce tastes of beer and 1-ounce tastes of wine and cider.
How many tastes does the taster get?
“It’s open,” said Stephens, meaning there’s no set number.
The downtown association is hiring security guards and making sure vendors keep an eye on patrons’ intoxication level, he added.
“If you appear to be impaired,” the tasting-note card reads, “we will not serve you.” A local taxicab company’s phone numbers are also on the card.
For the non-drinkers, there’s the art, the music and the kids’ zone set up at the fountain. Families can purchase Bedford’s Sodas root beer and other soft drinks there.
While at the fountain, people will be invited to the open house down the street at the former Lincoln Theater, 132 E. First St., where they can explore the movie house, watch cartoons on the big screen and find out about plans to turn it into a nonprofit film and performing arts center.
They can also join two free Art on the Town gallery walks departing from the fountain: at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
“We’re getting super excited,” said Hayley Croxford, another Arts & Draughts organizer and the owner of the Moss boutique at 120 W. First St.
Together with other downtown business people — Justin Tognoni and Angela Oppelt of Next Door Gastropub, Beth Witters of the Cabled Fiber Studio, Jenny Stewart Houston of Poser Yoga — Croxford has assembled quite a flock of breweries, wineries, cideries, bands, artists and food vendors.
North Olympic Peninsula participants include Barhop Brewing, Olympic Cellars and Camaraderie Cellars of Port Angeles; Propolis Brewing of Port Townsend; Chimacum’s Finnriver Cidery; and Hop Crew Brewing and Wind Rose Cellars of Sequim, while the local bands are Joy in Mudville and David & the Psalms, David Rivers’ new group.
Deschutes Brewery and King Estate Winery are coming up from Oregon; the Fremont, Pike and Two Beers breweries are here from Seattle; visiting wineries include Chateau Ste. Michelle of Woodinville and Charles Smith and Dusted Valley of Walla Walla.
Filling out the beer selection are Lagunitas Brewing of Petaluma, Calif.; 7 Seas Brewing of Gig Harbor; Silver City Brewing of Silverdale; and Everett’s Scuttlebutt Brewing.
And there will be food to purchase with all of the drink: Maggie May’s Espresso & Outfitter, The Blue W, Curbside Bistro and Stan the Hot Dog Man are among the vendors.
Arts & Draughts will become an annual festival, Stephens added — but probably not in September, so close to the Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival on Port Angeles’ waterfront, scheduled the second weekend of October.
“Our plan is to do it in June, around Father’s Day,” Stephens said.
“That will give us a little space between cultural bumps,” he said, referring to two other major draws: Port Angeles’ Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts in late May and the Sequim Lavender Weekend in mid-July.
“We’ve been working on this since January . . . It’s been tough. We’ve never done this before,” he acknowledged.
But “we have an incredible lineup.”
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
