Area breweries, wineries, art, music featured at Arts & Draughts

PORT ANGELES — Beer, wine, art and live music will be served this weekend at the Port Angeles Arts & Draughts beer and wine festival.

The fourth annual Port Angeles Downtown Association event begins today with a kickoff party on Laurel Street from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Tickets for tonight’s and Saturday’s events are $40 in advance and $50 at the gate. The ticket includes five tokens for Saturday beer-tasting.

Tickets to the beer garden are $10 tonight and $40 Saturday. A $5 coupon for the kickoff party is available on the Arts & Draughts festival Facebook page.

The Saturday ticket comes with a miniature mug and five tokens for samples at the tasting. Additional tokens are available for purchase inside the beer garden.

Sunday’s events are family friendly and free to the public. Art displays and food vendors will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

There will be no alcohol served Sunday.

Local indie rock band The Terps will perform at 8 tonight.

Libations will be served at the “Bier Cart” inside the 21-and-older beer garden between First and Front streets during tonight’s kickoff party and all-day tasting Saturday.

Twenty-five breweries and wineries will pour samples of craft beer, wine, cider and hard kombucha for tasting from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday.

“We have more wineries this year than we’ve had in the past,” said Marilyn Parrish, Port Angeles Downtown Association president, festival co-organizer and Peninsula Daily News sales representative.

Parrish said she expected a turnout of about 1,500 for the three-day event, including a large contingent traveling on the Coho ferry from Vancouver Island.

Victoria blues musician Jesse Roper will headline the Saturday concert series with a 7 p.m. performance. Roper also played the 2016 Arts & Draughts festival and is back by popular demand, organizers said.

“We’re excited to have Jesse Roper back on the stage and lots of new breweries,” said festival co-organizer Angela James of Next Door Gastropub.

Roper’s evening set will be preceded by Saturday performances by Rotgut Riot (1 p.m.), Micaela Kingslight (3 p.m.) and Black Diamond Junction (5 p.m.).

A family-friendly street fair will be held outside the beer garden beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Art vendors will display their crafts and local painters will do live demonstrations, Parrish said.

Three new food vendors — Coyote Pub/Kokopelli, Paella House and No Waste Tamales — will join festival mainstays Next Door Gastropub and Yong Jin Asian Bakery with food trucks outside the beer garden.

“We want this to be family friendly and encourage families to bring their children and browse through the vendor area, watch the demonstrators and live painter, and sample some scrumptious street food,” Parrish said in a Sunday news release.

In a Tuesday interview, James said beer sales have generally lagged at the festival on Sundays.

“We’re just rolling with the family-friendly street fair,” James said.

Elwha River Casino is the primary sponsor of the 2018 Arts & Draughts festival.

Other listed sponsors are OSP Sling, Strait View Credit Union, DA Davidson, Sequim Tax Service, 7 Cedars Casino, Northwest Cabs, Lakeside Industries, Evergreen Meats, E-Z Pawn, We Promote You, Brown’s Outdoor, KONP, Bada Bean NW, Next Door Gastropub, Leitz Farms, Peninsula Daily News, Red Lion Hotel, Black Ball Ferry and the city and Port of Port Angeles.

In conjunction with the festival, a fiber arts show will be open from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Studio Bob at 118½ E. Front St.

The non-juried exhibit sponsored by Cabled Fiber & Yarn will be on exhibit through Saturday, Sept. 29. It is an extension of the North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival, held annually in Sequim beginning in October.

Here is the schedule for the 2018 Port Angeles Arts & Draughts beer and wine festival:

Today

• 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. — Kickoff party in the beer garden; beverages for sale at the Bier Cart.

• 8 p.m. — The Terps take the stage.

Saturday

• 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. — Festival food, art vendors and live demonstrations.

• 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. — Beer and wine tasting in the beer garden; live music.

• 7 p.m. — Headliner Jesse Roper takes the stage.

Sunday

• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. — Family Friendly Sunday Funday; festival food, art vendors and live demonstrations; children’s activities.

________

Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.