The annual SIPtemberfest did not disappoint this year with over 1,000 people in attendance under sunny skies at Mad River Glen last weekend.
SIPtemberfest featured outdoor easygoing music, exceptional food, stellar beer, hard ciders and alcohol-free options.
Meg Schultz, SIPtemberfest organizer, personally gave the event a top three listing in the history of the event.
Roughly 26 brewers were on hand including five nonbeer brewers such as Citizen Cider, Woodchuck Cider, Halyard Brewing Co., Smuggler’s Notch Distillery and Groennfell Meadery.
The Valley’s three local brewers, Lawson’s Finest Liquids, Collaborative Brewing and Cousins Brewing, attended the event to pour the local favorites.
Music was provided by Ragged Company and Lowell Thompson. The famous tater tot extraordinaire truck provided by Cornerstone Pub and Kitchen served up mounds of tater tots with a variety of toppings. The Mad Taco and Michael’s Good to Go, that went by the name of The Mad Dumpling, offered dumplings or sandwiches.
Schultz said 40-plus volunteers helped with the setup and operations of the day. “Forty-plus incredible volunteers! Couldn’t do this without them! Many have been helping out for years – we have a core group that gets bigger and more dialed in each year,” said Schultz.
“I think this year’s event was right up there in terms of quality of beer, caliber of weather and coolness of the crowd. We had a bigger variety of nonbeer this year and we had a drool-worthy beer menu. That had a lot of people buying extra tokens! Our bands were on point this year too – I heard a lot of compliments like, ‘Thanks for getting a shirtless band!’ (Lowell Thompson and his band all played the last of their set without shirts!) But honestly one of the highlights for me was that my staff and volunteers were so solid. I got to hang out for a good portion of my event – that doesn’t usually happen!” said Schultz.
Next year the event will undergo some unusual challenges in that Mad River Glen will be undergoing some major rebuilds and renovations.
“How this impacts my event is not yet known, but I expect it will be significant. Hopefully all the changes will be behind the scenes. I’m already having conversations with MRG and the firms involved in the work. I’m hopeful we will have a plan soon. Otherwise, my plan is what it has always been – make it the same but better!” said Schultz.
Schultz started SIPtemberfest in order to bring a quality beer fest to The Valley. “When the community shows up like they did this past weekend, all I can say is, thanks! I hope to keep SIP alive for years to come and hopefully bring a few more events like it to our neighborhood so we can continue to have great excuses to hang out and have fun with a slew of our neighbors in this beautiful valley we call home!” said Schultz.
