Even as we can now see a light at the end of the tunnel for COVID-19, the latest fourth wave of surges has made it clear we are not out of the woods yet. Just as festivals and live music events looked like they were ready to start coming back, the recent big uptick in infection rates in Oregon and Washington has led some planned beer festivals to postpone or straight up cancel their events this year.

Yesterday, Oregon governor Kate Brown announced 15 Oregon counties would roll back into an ‘Extreme Risk’ tier. On April 12th Washington governor Jay Inslee rolled back 3 counties to phase 2 restrictions and looks likely to send Seattle’s home of King County back to outdoor only service next week.

Yakima Fresh Hop Fest, the largest fresh hop beer event in the country was planning to bring back their event this fall on Saturday, October 2nd. Yakima was one of the hardest hit counties in Washington last year by the pandemic and may be at most risk to do so again. While event organizers had initially expressed confidence in a return this year after canceling 2020, it’s clear that the recent surge has left some questions hanging on its feasability.

After initially encouraging people to purchase their Fresh Hop Fest tickets and book hotels, the Yakima Valley tourism board and fest organizers are now taking a wait and see approach by pausing ticket sales until later this year.

Bend Brewfest, one of the largest beer festivals in Oregon had announced that the public should save the dates of August 17-19 for the 2021 fest. This is a beer fest that regularly welcomes 30-40K people each year, even with an ease in restrictions that number of people into one venue, even as spread out as the Les Schwab Amphitheater is, seemed unlikely at anywhere near regular capacity.

Yesterday, the organizational team pulled the plug on hopes of holding the festival this year and announced a move to May of 2022.

Holiday Ale Festival has bookmarked a hold the date for December 3-5th of 2021 with loose plans to have a paired down event in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square with 50+ craft beers and ciders. Organizers are cautiously approaching this one by suggesting some holiday celebrations but holding ticket sales until this fall when we will have a better understanding of the situation on the ground.

The Little Woody festival of barrel-aged beer, cider & whiskey is still holding their dates of September 3-4th 2021 and is currently selling tickets. This smaller scale festival is going to a timed sessions approach that limits the attendees to specific time frames in their host location at the Deschutes Historical Museum in downtown Bend, Oregon. Limited and advanced ticketed only events seem like the smartest way to move forward, however it will be difficult to predict what capacity limits and group gathering rules will be in place this September. It’s also unclear how many people/tickets the festival plans or needs to sell for each session to make it financially viable and safe to attendees.

There are still many unknowns, with vaccinations now open to those 16 and above in Oregon and even earlier in Washington we could still see some measured mid-size events return this year. No matter what your opinion is on the restrictions if you want to get back to these gatherings you need to mask-up, follow guidance, and get your vaccinations.