By Justin Aufdermauer
Executive Director
If you’re reading this and you’ve been thinking about attending the 5th annual Cork & Brew Tour happening on June 15 — this is your friendly reminder to get your tickets sooner rather than later. We’ve already sold close to half of the available tickets and more keep walking out the door every day.
Each year this fun downtown event draws in new people and those who have been “touring” with us for the last five years. And while the structure remains the same, there is always something new and different to experience that makes it worth coming back for again and again.
It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since we put together a downtown “pub crawl” as a way to engage the business community and give community members and tourists something fun to do on a near-summer weekend that was traditionally kind of quiet and underutilized.
We sold 100 tickets our first year, not really sure what the response would be or how well the night would play out. Right away people were telling us, “We want to come back and do this again next year.”
Similar to last year, the tour will begin at 4:30 p.m. at a Launch Party at Pelican Brewing’s Bottling Warehouse on the corner of Front Street and Grove Avenue. The party will feature live music, brewery games, appetizers and beer on tap. Then, “tourists” will leave on a self-guided tour through downtown businesses to enjoy beer and wine tastings paired with food from some of the area’s most renowned restaurants. Be sure to dress for the weather, as it’s been known to sprinkle on us in the past and there is a fair amount of walking involved from business to business. Of course you don’t have to make it to each stop if you don’t feel like it, and are not obligated to have a tasting each time. However those who get their passport signed at each participating stop and turn it in at the end of the night (thank you Art Accelerated for hosting the passport drop off again this year) will be entered into a raffle.
Tickets are $45 per person and can be purchased online at www.corkandbrewtour.com or at the Pelican Taproom, Sunflower Flats or the Chamber’s headquarters. This event does sell out, and no tickets will be sold at the door.
Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this year’s beer and wine line up includes Pelican Brewing Co., Werner Brewing Co., 2 Towns Cider, Fort George Brewing, Blue Heron French Cheese Co., Nehalem Bay Winery, and Provincial Vineyards. Follow our event on Facebook where we will be releasing more wine, beer and food pairings as we get closer to the event.
And, following the Cork & Brew Tour is the season opener of the Tillamook Farmers Market on June 16 and the June Dairy Parade and Festival on June 23. It’s a busy month here at the Chamber and we hope you’ll come out to one or all of these events and spend time enjoying downtown with us.