Given the city’s rich brewing history, it’s probably no surprise that a beer festival will be the first big event held on the riverfront after several key Arch-related projects are completed this spring.
The St. Louis Brewers Guild says it’s moving the popular Heritage Festival from Forest Park to the downtown riverfront. On June 11, thousands of beer aficionados will be able to gather along the banks of the Mississippi to sample more than 100 styles of beer produced by dozens of area breweries.
The festival will be held along a stretch of Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard, from the base of the Grand Staircase north toward Eads Bridge.
By then, several key downtown projects will be completed, including the elevation of Sullivan Boulevard and construction of dedicated bike paths. That work is part of the $380 million makeover of the grounds of the Gateway Arch, the city’s most important landmark.
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Holding the Heritage Festival at the riverfront represents somewhat of a change in direction for area outdoor events. Several that had been held in downtown St. Louis moved west in recent years, including Taste of St. Louis, which left for Chesterfield in 2014, and the Memorial Day Ribfest, which relocated to St. Charles last year.
“I’ve dreamed of seeing this down on the riverfront for years,” said Troika Brodsky, who was named executive director of the nonprofit brewers guild last year. “There’s nothing more St. Louis than doing something at the Arch, by the Eads Bridge and the riverfront.”
The Heritage Festival will run on a single day, instead of a three- or two-day event as was the case in prior years. Tickets will be capped at 2,000 for two sessions, for a total of 4,000 tickets. Pricing for tickets has not yet been finalized, but they will go on sale in April. Tickets to last year’s event cost between $30 and $40.
“It’s a reboot of the festival, and that leaves us in the position to grow it next year,” Brodsky said. The festival is the brewers guild’s primary fundraiser, and past events broke even instead of serving as a way to raise funds, he said.
“Our mission is beer tourism and to promote the local beer scene, not just locally but nationally,” Brodsky said. “The best way you can really showcase beer is to have a signature event.”
In planning this year’s move, the brewers guild is working with regional parks and trails district Great Rivers Greenway, which is making the improvements to the riverfront as part of the CityArchRiver project.
Great Rivers Greenway is in talks with other festival organizers about using the riverfront, said Emma Klues, director of communications and outreach. “Festivals offer the chance for residents and tourists to check out the riverfront,” Klaus said. “It’s a really unique space that honors our past and looks to our future as well.”
It’s not the first time the Heritage Festival changed venues. Although Forest Park is its longtime home, in 2012 the festival was held at a parking lot that now houses Ballpark Village next to Busch Stadium downtown.
Plans for this year’s event call for beer samples from 40 to 50 breweries, including craft brewers, homebrewers and the world’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, which has its North American headquarters in St. Louis.
The Heritage Festival’s roster of breweries has grown significantly from a decade ago, when it started with seven breweries with the goal of raising the profile and prestige of beer as sales were lagging nationally.
Anheuser-Busch’s then-executive vice president of global industry development, Bob Lachky, met with Dan Kopman, co-founder of craft brewer Schlafly Beer’s parent company, to create the first Heritage Festival. Local beers from Alandale Brewing Co., Augusta Brewing Co., Morgan Street Brewery, O’Fallon Brewery and Square One Brewery and Distillery were part of the inaugural festival in May 2007.
The festival was started when St. Louis’ craft beer industry was beginning to take off. Including St. Louis’ largest brewer, Schlafly, there were only about a half dozen local craft breweries a decade ago. Now there are several dozen.
“The idea then was to create something special and unique in St. Louis,” said John Witte, director of beverage operations at Square One Brewery, which opened in 2006.
Beers styles at Heritage Festival aren’t judged against one another, and no medals are awarded.
“What truly differentiates our beer festival is its exclusive focus on only showcasing beers from our own community, in addition to our commitment to ensuring a broad range of beer styles are showcased,” Brodsky said.
A competition of sorts exists for determining which breweries will brew particular beer styles. On Feb. 22, brewers guild members will meet at Moulin Events in Lafayette Square to hold a fantasy football-like draft to select beer styles to ensure a wide variety of beers are represented at the festival.
Moving the festival to the riverfront is a way to make a positive difference as the city faced recent disappointments, including the St. Louis Rams’ move to Los Angeles, Witte said.
Still, getting to the festival may be tough. Though portions of the Arch overhaul are wrapping up, a park over Interstate 44 connecting downtown’s central business district with the Arch grounds is open but won’t be an access point into the Arch grounds until 2017, when the new underground museum opens.
The primary access for pedestrians from downtown to the Arch grounds is Walnut Street, said CityArchRiver spokesman Ryan McClure.
Despite the construction still underway at the Arch, Brodsky said the riverfront location offered good access for festival-goers. The riverfront location was selected for its proximity to hotels and public transportation, including a nearby MetroLink station, he said. Parking also is available on Laclede’s Landing.
“We decided to look at how can we use the festival to showcase what St. Louis has to offer, with our brewery scene,” Witte said. “We want to use it to promote St. Louis as a tourist destination.”
