TAZEWELL, Va. -Tazewell’s annual “Oktobrewfest” consistently brings the crowds to Main Street for a night of food, drinks, and live music.
“…Southwest Virginia started becoming known for our craft breweries, and we have several that have popped up along the way and honestly, the breweries have become the lifeblood of small-town revitalization in some cases, so we wanted to hold this event to celebrate that and we’ve really become quite the destination for craft breweries around here,” says Amanda Killen, executive director of the Tazewell County Chamber of Commerce, the organizers of this event.
However, with the area still recovering from the recent storm, the seventh annual Oktobrewfest almost didn’t happen, until organizers realized this was an opportunity to make a positive impact on the community.
“Our businesses were really impacted by the flood and by the storm. We all lost electricity. Our electricity was out for days in some cases here in Tazewell County, so a lot of restaurants lost their inventory, everyone lost several days’ worth of sales, and there’s not a lot of resources for small businesses to be able to reclaim any of that, so we wanted to do something to impact the folks here at home and small businesses are the lifeblood of Tazewell County; that’s what keeps everything going here,” says Killen.
Thanks to a match from the Thompson Charitable Foundation, each ticket sale brought twenty dollars to the Small Business Recovery Fund. In addition, this event helps bring a direct revenue stream to some of the businesses hurt by the storm, both the Main street Restaurants and the small, local breweries taking part.
One of the breweries here is based out of Damascus, Virginia, an area hit hard by the storm. They are donating half of their sales to their local recovery effort.
“Being Damascus, I think it’s like eight hundred, nine hundred people, small town and small-town brewery… our roots are run deep in Damascus, and we want to be there every step of the way through the recovery process and do what we can to help out,” says Kasey, a manager for the Damascus Brewery.
Kasey says it’s amazing that so much is being done to help the area bounce back.
“…Every little bit helps, and it’s one of the things that we’re so proud to be a part a small community. Tazewell’s a little bigger than Damascus, but it seems like this whole region is pulling together and helping one another out, and… It’s amazing to see and amazing to feel,” says Kasey.
Despite the circumstances, Killen was quick to label this year’s Oktobrewfest a success, with many people coming out and supporting these local businesses.
Killen says planning for next year’s Oktobrewfest will start at the beginning of next year. Kasey encourages other small breweries to take part in future iterations of this event, calling this a great place to meet people, showcase your products, and be a part of the community.
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