Oregon Brewers Festival, after returning for 1 year, cancels again for summer 2023

Oregon Brewers Festival 2022

Festival-goers raised toasts and enjoyed fine beers at the 2022 Oregon Brewers Festival, but sweltering temperatures and a smaller venue contributed to lower attendance.Courtesy of Oregon Brewers Festival

The Oregon Brewers Festival, which made its return to the Portland waterfront last summer after missing two years because of the pandemic, is being canceled again this summer, organizers said early Friday.

The organization told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the increasing cost to field the event, combined with oppressive heat that has been a factor in lower attendance in recent years the festival has been held, has created an unlikely scenario for success.

“After three decades of producing OBF, we’ve developed a solid understanding of what it takes to give our attendees a great festival,” organizers said in a statement. “And it’s clear when those factors aren’t coming together.

“Higher costs, lower attendance, and extreme weather are just a few of the challenges that we’ve been discussing,” the statement said, “but that’s far from an exhaustive list.”


      

The festival returned in 2022 with a significantly smaller footprint, taking up less space on Tom McCall Waterfront Park and featuring fewer breweries and beers. The gathering, which at its peak a decade ago attracted as many as 85,000 people, drew about 23,500 through the gates for the three-day festival — shorter than in previous years, which had numbered as many as five days.

Organizers said the number of festival-goers in 2022 was only slightly less than they expected because of the smaller scope of the event, which ran from July 28 to 30. But temperatures that reached as high as 103 degrees were a deterrent for many people, as Portland saw its third-longest heat wave in recorded history with eight consecutive days of temperatures of 90 degrees or higher from July 24 to 31.

The statement also said organizers understood that participating in such a large festival could be difficult for breweries and vendors in today’s business climate.

“We recognize that the hospitality industry, which is at the core of our festival, is still working to recover from the effects of the pandemic,” the statement said. “From local breweries to the suppliers of our festival infrastructure, many folks are just working to keep their doors open and their employees paid. OBF will return when the time is right.”

Art Larrance, who founded the festival in 1988, said that in the early days, he and fellow organizer Teddy Peetz, who has been instrumental in the operation of the festival from its start, agreed they would run it until they were 75 years old, and they’re now 78.

“We’re getting old, and things have changed,” said Larrance, who was also a co-founder of Portland Brewing Co. and Cascade Brewing. “We’re just going to wait for the right time to come back — we’re just pausing.”

The festival had seen attendance decline in the years even before the pandemic. Another layer of struggles was piled on by COVID, which forced the cancellations in 2020 and 2021.

Larrance said it was a difficult decision because the festival is deeply personal to him. It has been a family affair — with three generations involved in organizing, including his daughter, Alissa Larrance, who for years has played a primary role, Larrance said.

“But it’s more of a relief at this point,” he said. “It’s a risky, risky adventure, especially in today’s times. The hospitality side is tough right now.”

The statement said organizers are still “considering creative ways to support our local breweries and cideries through smaller festivals and partnerships,” and they said they still plan to hold the Hillsbrew beer festival in Hillsboro from Feb. 24 to 26.

The organizers thanked brewers, vendors and festival-goers for years of devotion.

“Great beer has never been an issue,” the statement said. “We want to express our gratitude to the brewers, cider makers, volunteers, staff members and vendors who have been vital to OBF over the years … and to our attendees — from the ones who never missed a year to those who braved the heatwave in 2022 to join us for the first time — we can’t wait to see you again.”

Larrance also thanked other entities that have helped the festival over the decades.

“The city, the mayor’s office, the Parks Department, they’ve been great to work with,” he said. And he emphasized the accomplishments the festival has achieved in its more than three decades.

“When we started this, we were one of the first ones coming out with a beer festival, and we have spawned many other festivals,” he said in a phone interview. “We feel proud of that. It’s brought awareness of local beer, that was the purpose. Not to go make money, but to expose people to good beer and what was going on in Portland.

“We were so proud to be part of the craft beer explosion worldwide,” he continued. “In our heydey, we were listed as one of the top 10 beer festivals in the world, and I’m very proud of that. ... It took sometimes up to 2,000 volunteers to run this event. I want to thank them all.”

— Andre Meunier; sign up for my weekly newsletter Oregon Brews and News, and follow me on Instagram, where I’m @oregonianbeerguy.

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