BIGFORK — Hundreds swarmed Electric Avenue in downtown Bigfork for the 19th annual Bigfork Brewfest, where attendees used sampler mugs to try beers from breweries all across Montana.
"Love Bigfork, love the community here and love that we get to do this," said Pam Gagner, Bigfork Brewfest attendee.
Electric Avenue was completely closed off for the event, which featured 24 different breweries, food, music, local shops and people of all ages.
"This is a community event, there's kids, there's dogs, there's everybody," said Darcie Fast, Bigfork Brewfest chairperson.
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In its 19th year, the event has become a staple for brewers across the state, including Jim Lueders with Wildwood Brewing from Stevensville, who has been coming for around 14 years.
"Oh it's a fun group of people, Bigfork is a wonderful town and the event organizers take good care of us brewers," Lueders said.
The community came out regardless of the windy day.
"It's amazing, the fact that Bigfork does this, it's all about community and supporting the local breweries," Gagner said.
Fun is not the only thing the event brings to the table. Bigfork Innovations Group, the nonprofit that runs the festival, has put around $85,000 back into Bigfork just from the past seven years of Brewfest.
"We pay out what we need to pay for the rentals and then we try to give back as much as we can to make sure that we get baseball fields, to keep open spaces in Bigfork," Fast said.
The money raised is crucial to keep Bigfork running the way locals love.
"It takes a village, we're unincorporated so if we want sidewalks, we have to pay for it. We have to raise the funds and actually pay for it ourselves. These kinds of things I don't want to say are dire, but they're very important for Bigfork to keep being the awesome town that we are," Fast said.
