#CCBeer Through the Years
A beer festival doesn’t get to be 10 years old without a lot of help from it’s friends!
We’ve got a core group of dedicated staff, a large pool of generous volunteers, thousands of loyal festival-goers, dozens of top-notch brew makers and a supportive local community – all of which have made this impressive run possible. We appreciate you ALL!
We’ve grown from one tiny, dark, wet & chilly tent in our first year, to now 10 years later filling the city park with beer lovers from across the state and beyond in a fun and festive lakeside atmosphere! One thing that hasn’t changed is our mission to bring you the newest up and comers from the Michigan beer scene – and those “little breweries” have really grown with us over the years!
Take a look back at how you have helped us grow – cheers to 10 years!
A BEER POSTER HISTORY
courtesy of Charmellow Design
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2019
2010
A Cold & Wet Initiation to the Fall Fever Festival!
Things began for us in a small tent on Harris St. in front of Parkview Lanes, we were included as one of the attractions of the Cadillac Fall Fever Festival lineup. It was a very cold, windy & rainy night! No live music, no kegs, no brewers!! Just cans, bottles, maybe 75 craft beer lovers and a dream!
Our first year core committee consisted of: Lincoln VanDrie, Brian Jones & Scott Barstaad. A few faithful first year volunteers (Joy VanDrie, Derek Anderson, Shirley McCoy & Paul Brown) would prove to be instrumental as we worked to build things up in the years ahead.
2011
Here Comes the Classic Car Show!
2011 marked the first year of the car show event, also as a part of the Cadillac Fall Fever Fest. This year we designed our first festival glass and some brewers actually come join us! Schmohz, New Holland, Right Brain & Atwater were there – we had the UofM v. MSU football game playing on the big screens under the tent & things were looking up. Gained a few more volunteers and a better overall turnout but we still couldn’t catch a break on the weather – maybe next year will be different??
2012
Tent Heaters & A KungFu Rodeo
NOPE! It was another cold and rainy night, but we all kept warm and rocked it with some live music under the little tent on Lake Street. This marked the last year of the Cadillac Fall Fever Festival with all the extra family activities happening in the park. But our beer fest would continue on!
It was Bit Social Media’s first full year promoting the event; Lindsey & Will were able to establish our new website & Facebook page. We gained some more ground with brewers, picked up a couple sponsors & increased our ticket sales. There are signs that our little party is starting to grow!
2013
The Year We Ran Out of Beer!
This was our breakthrough year!
We moved the festival out of the street and into the City Park, and it’s a good thing because our attendance spiked and we had a thirsty crowd on our hands. Also making its debut was our 1st ever homebrew competition – we had 44 potent entries and just 5 judges to drink it all. Did we mention it was the OPENING WEEKEND of the Clam Lake Beer Co. on the other side of the park?! Yeah, they ran out of beer too – it was a long night!
It was also the year we welcomed Dani Renwick of Charmellow Design into our marketing mix to provide some sweet event posters and festival branding!
2014
The Year We Added VIP Beer Geeks & Yard Games!
We weren’t about to run out of beer this year, but we knew we had to step up our game for the 5th anniversary! So this was the year we transitioned into more of a stand-alone event as the car show fell away and we created our signature backyard tailgate festival atmosphere you have all come to love, complete with corn-hole, giant jenga & wallhooky! We were lucky to land Paul Brown in 2014 as our now longstanding musical director and the Bear Claw Epic Mountain Bike Race also got it’s start in this year across town at the Cadillac Pathway.
2015
Building Momentum with MORE Food, MORE Vendors & MORE Homebrew!
This year featured a bigger music stage and more brewers to choose from! We added even more yard games and a photo booth with local legend DJ ShawnyD as well as selfie stations – the park was full of food trucks and beer related retail vendors.
It is also the year we branded as our big 5th anniversary, except we had mis-counted and this was actually our sixth year!
Time flies when you’re pouring beer…
2016
Enjoying the New Plaza at Cadillac Commons!
A beautiful addition to the overall feel of our festival is the outdoor fireplace and night-time fountain light show at the Plaza adjacent to the City Park. This is a popular space within the Commons that has become a place where people like to gather during the day or at night, year-round!
After more reflection, feedback collection, re-configuring & refining, we’ve started to become a well-oiled machine. This is the year we broke the 100+ volunteer mark!
2017
The Hottest #CCbeerfest Ever!
Also known as the year we didn’t sell any sweatshirts 🙂 It was definitely ideal beer drinking weather but we had some extra waters on hand as well. The warm spell allowed us to continue our fair weather/non-snowing streak so we weren’t about to complain!
People may or may not have ended up in the park fountain to cool down…
2018
The Year We Added Spirits!
This year we finally implemented an idea that had been kicked around for quite some time. Beer, wine, mead & cider is great – but it was time to bring in the liquor! After a great reception of our spirit vendors in 2018 we are bringing even more to the party in 2019 for our 10th anniversary.
2019
We Had A Blast For The 10th Annual Celebration!
Another new record, 20 brewers & 80+ flavors – fun was had by all…
2022
BACK BIGGER THAN EVER IN 2022!
After an unplanned and unwanted hiatus – we brought things back in a BIG way! The 2022 festival was the LARGEST on record. We sold out to a max capacity crowd and they all stuck with us through the cold, drizzly day for one of the most memorable beer fests ever. Special thanks to our presenting sponsor in 2022 – Mortgage1!
2023
CHEERS TO THE VOLUNTEERS!
After the most successful beer fest to date, we did something that we always had talked about doing…
In early 2023, we held a volunteer appreciation event to round up all of our helpers and say thank you!
Festivities were held at The Greenhouse and it was great see all of our beerfest volunteers together in the “off-season”.
