4th annual Summer Sippin’ fest set for June
PLYMOUTH – It’s a chance for Marshall County residents to have a good time and drink some good brews for a good cause.
The fourth annual Summer Sippin’ Craft Brew Fest is 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 29, at River Park Square in downtown Plymouth.
Zach Ferree, an event planner for the festival, said funds raised will go toward Freedom Park, the all-inclusive playground at Packard Woods in Plymouth.
Since Summer Sippin’ Craft Brew Fest’s inception, Ferree said organizers have raised about half of the anticipated $100,000 cost to install wheelchair-accessible swings at Freedom Park, which opened in 2015.
“As for this year, I’m really hoping for a positive year,” he said. “The big thing about Summer Sippin’ is the fact that it is a fundraiser for Freedom Park. I feel like the handicap swings would be tremendously utilized in our community, especially with the group homes and Marshall
Starke Development Center. So many organizations and families can play at Freedom Park without constraints.”
Ferree previously said he’s optimistic 600-650 will turn out for this year’s event.
“Without a doubt,” he said in May. “My goal is 1,000 people. If I can get 1,000 people for Freedom Park, I can die a happy man.”
Prices have dropped for this year’s event. VIP tickets have gone from $60 to $40, general admission prices have dropped from $40 to $30 and tickets for designated drivers have gone from $15 to $10.
Now organizers just hope the weather cooperates. After averaging 450-600 people for the festival’s first two years, last year’s attendance for the festival was only about 275, Ferree estimates.
“Last year, the weather was just awful,” he previously said. “It was impending doom.”
Tickets for the Summer Sippin’ Craft Brew Fest are available at the Pilot News, 214 N. Michigan St., and Beacon Credit Union, 855 N. Oak Drive, Plymouth. Tickets are also available online at eventbrite.com.
“Summer Sippin’ really ties the community together,” Ferree said. “It is a unique fundraiser held in the gorgeous River Park Square – a place that just years ago was full of vacant and desolate buildings and then just last year was several feet under water. It gives adults the opportunity to come out locally and try brews and wines they might not originally get the chance to. It gives other small businesses the opportunity to get out and get involved in the community and help out a fellow organization.
“For one night a year,” he continued, “I ask people to put aside their differences and come out to enjoy sampling beer, listen to live entertainment and snack on some local food while enjoying the company of each other.”