Brewfest brings back sense of community

Hundreds of people turned out for Sunday’s Bigfork Brewfest on Electric Avenue, drawn to the annual spring affair by two things: beer and community.

“Being out with people again,” is what inspired Kalispell’s Kasidy Zimmerman to attend and Brittney Bloch echoed her sentiments.

“We’re just here because we need social interaction after a year of like no events,” Bloch noted.

Kalispell’s Shawn Stilphen said that he was also grateful for the human interaction.

“This is so awesome to see everybody out here enjoying themselves,” he said. “I’m hoping we’ll get back to that time of fun and interaction — just being human again — not being sequestered all the time.”

The beers were indeed plentiful during Sunday’s event, but Bigfork Brewfest satisfied a deeper craving among the crowd — one for a sense of normalcy. Masks and social distancing were in limited use at the event as attendees hopped from tent to tent, meandering through the crowd in search of the next glass of hoppy, amber-hued goodness. Mike Murray Duo provided dance-friendly tunes from the outdoor patio at Oro y Plata and even the sun peaked its head out toward the close of the event. Friends reconnected after many months apart, introductions were made and the pandemic, at least for a few hours, seemed to be far from everyone’s minds.

Co-chair Darcie Fast said her team was conscious of the risk factors, but said she thought that people who were susceptible weren’t likely to have attended, while those who had been vaccinated or already contracted the virus did turn out.

“We weren’t trying to spread a virus — we thought it was a good outdoor event where we could try to control the crowd,” she explained. “This event is usually the first event to get everybody out of the stir crazy cabin fever feeling of winter ... this year people were very happy to be out and about.”

Cases are on the downward trend in Montana -- 143 new cases statewide were reported Tuesday and 146 cases are listed as active in Flathead County — a far cry from the numbers reported during peaks in the previous summer and fall. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends the use of masks and social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus, especially in crowds. Those who have been vaccinated can safely gather indoors with other vaccinated people without masks, but should still mask up in public settings, the CDC advised.

Data from the Montana Department of Health and Human Services shows that just over 8,000 Flathead County residents have been fully vaccinated while another 13,800 have received their first dose.

In an effort to limit crowd size in Bigfork’s downtown area, presale tickets were limited to 1,000 with just an additional 200 passes offered on the day of the event. The event was also organized so tents of the two-dozen Montana brewers were spread down the avenue with room in between for folks to gather, warm up and socialize.

“The beer was flowing freely — there were a lot of smiling faces,” Fast noted.

The Bigfork Brewfest is the largest fundraiser of the year for Bigfork Innovations Group -- a nonprofit organization focused on improving the local community by making charitable donations and hosting local events. The total amount generated from the event was unavailable as of press time, however Fast considered it a surprising success.

“We really thought that people needed an outdoor event,” she said. “The love that we felt from it was just extraordinary.”