The Bar Towel

Buried in an article about increased funding for Fort York in today's Globe, I found the following bit of interesting news:

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As of this summer, the fort will no longer be forced to rent out what is essentially a military graveyard to a summer beer festival that features beach volleyball and rock concerts.

"If you care about your national historic site, you don't prostitute it," he said, even though the massive event represents about a third of the fort's 80,000 annual visitors.

Greg Cosway, founder of the Beer Festival, took issue with the idea that he was pushed out, saying he and the city "mutually" agreed to change venues, with this year's festival moving to Exhibition Place. He insisted it wasn't inappropriate for a historic site: "If you got a bunch of young soldiers together back in the day and said, 'Hey, what about a beer event?', I am sure they all would have been keen."

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Curiously, the festival website has been updated with the dates for this year, but still lists Fort York as the venue, suggesting that this might be a fairly recent development.

I wonder how much this has to do with the fact that the grounds looked pretty well decimated after the fest was over last year? I wonder who paid for that? Complete re-sodding must have been needed in some areas. I have always liked Fort York as the venue, but with the amount of people that were coming it started to get cramped in recent years, and as evidenced by last year, that many people + sustained inclement weather = messy.

Hopefully it stays as an outdoor event, not pushed into the food building or something. It could be a revenue generator for the city, doesn't the CNE Casino open the August long weekend?

Bowmans might take issue though, or have difficulty with AGCO getting a license to run the poker tournament

Fort York has long been an unsuitable venue for an event of this scale IMO (I've written articles about it years ago). Nice to see it go to a place that can handle its popularity.

This is disappointing news, but I'm sure the CNE will work out to be a great venue.

I think the ultimate location would be Olympic Island, despite the obvious logistical challenges. Mind you, V Fest attracts a huge crowd and there's no shortage of beer and equipment there...

Regardless, we always look forward to the Festival.

John
Great Lakes

Scenically that's a nice idea but...every year the Toronto beer festival seems mired by late starts, hassles with getting gear in and set up on time, and that's at a venue ON the mainland. I can only imagine the headache having it over on one of the harbour islands.

To me the perfect venue would be the U of T football stadium. Highly accessible via transit, fenced, numerous existing bathrooms and concession stands, somewhere to sit while sampling...etc, etc. Not sure if that was considered or not but that'd be my vote. The Buffalo fest was sooo good when it was at that baseball stadium.

Ah yes, the year of the Buffalo brewfest in Dunn Tire park. Those were the good days - not in the bombed out wastelands at the outskirts of the city!

The year on the waterfront was pretty nice too.

Glad to hear that news. I don't really care what happens to this event as it is just a corporate, mass marketing charade of a beer tasting event.
Way too crowded and very few good beers on offer. It's nothing more than a university "kegger".

jethro796 wrote:Glad to hear that news. I don't really care what happens to this event as it is just a corporate, mass marketing charade of a beer tasting event.
Way too crowded and very few good beers on offer. It's nothing more than a university "kegger".

I would have to agree. I went for the first time last year, and was very dissapointed. I went through the whole place and only found two beers I hadn't tried before. I think it is far more about drinking beer, than the beer itself. I'll not waste my time and money going back, regardless of the venue.

carguy wrote: I would have to agree. I went for the first time last year, and was very dissapointed. I went through the whole place and only found two beers I hadn't tried before. I think it is far more about drinking beer, than the beer itself. I'll not waste my time and money going back, regardless of the venue.

I don't disagree with your point about the focus being on drinking rather than tasting for many folks, but there are plenty of people out there who *do* find lots of new beer to try there. Most of them probably aren't regulars on bartowel, but for the newbies or casually curious there are lots of micros and imports that they may not know existed before.

Yeah, the criticisms we routinely level here about the Toronto fest are well documented (newer posters, search and you'll find endless threads knocking the event). However I'm always of the belief that the event can only improve and, given a venue change, I for one hope that a new location might bring other improvements as well.

Toronto’s Festival of Beer is on the move

After 14 years at Historic Fort York, the Festival is moving to Bandshell Park at Exhibition Place

(TORONTO, ONTARIO) – February 27, 2009 – Following 14 glorious years at Historic Fort York, this year’s Festival of Beer will be relocating to its new home Bandshell Park at Exhibition Place. Beer-lovers will have the opportunity to sip and sample a variety of beers from August 6th to August 9th at the festival’s new digs.

Each year, over 30,000 consumers attend the legendary four-day festival which celebrates Canada’s rich brewing history. This year’s Festival aims to be greater than ever before. Greg Cosway, Founder of the Festival, had this to say about the move “We are very excited to be moving to our new location. We had a great run at the Fort but after last year’s Festival we knew it was time for a new venue! The Fort was built to keep people out, we were bringing in 30,000 people and about 120 vendors, I think that speaks for itself.”

Ideally located in downtown Toronto, alongside the scenic shores of Lake Ontario and only a short distance from Fort York, Bandshell Park at Exhibition Place provides organizers with an exceptional infrastructure and many opportunities to evolve and expand the Festival in the future.

Additionally, the festival’s new location provides convenient access to TTC and GO Transit links, allowing the Festival to further support their message to brewers and consumers alike: Respect Beer. Respect Yourself. Drink Responsibly.

“With the number of exhibitors and patrons increasing annually, Fort York had reached its capacity. The move was something we had talked about with the City for a couple of years and we both agreed that the time had come. The Fort is a National Historic site and we recognize the significance of the venue for Canada and the importance of the role it has played in shaping the city of Toronto.” said Greg Cosway, “We had 14 phenomenal years at the Fort accompanied by some great memories and experiences. The staff at the Fort will be missed as we leave our own little piece of History behind and look ahead to the future!” he continued.

As always, beer will take centre stage, while live entertainment under the backdrop of Toronto’s skyline will set the vibe at this one of a kind event. A variety of music from Jazz and Blues, to Reggae and R&B will take turns delighting the crowd over the course of the weekend.

Along with a new venue, consumers can expect to see other exciting changes for this years’ festival. “Each year, we strive to bring new and exciting elements to our consumers, and this year we will be featuring a premium entertainment act in the Bandshell each night of the Festival. Our Festival has always been a great value for our consumers and we look forward to delivering on that promise in our new venue”. In over fourteen years of business only twice have ticket prices for the Festival been increased and the value offering along with the Festival has changed significantly within that time span. With new expenses to address at the Festival’s new home, tickets prices for the 2009 Festival will be increased.

TICKETS GO ON SALE THIS SUNDAY MARCH, 1st

About Toronto’s Festival of Beer

Toronto’s Festival of Beer is scheduled for August 6th to 9th at Bandshell Park at Exhibition Place. Festival hours will be: Thursday and Friday 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Tickets will be available online at: www.beerfestival.ca starting March 1st, 2009. Patrons must be of legal drinking age (19+) to attend and children and pets are not permitted on-site at the Festival.

Additional information on Toronto’s Festival of Beer can also be found at beerfestival.ca.

The website still has outdated info on it about last years event. Hopefully they update it in connection with ticket sales starting on March 1st.

I'm not expecting anything genuinely new at the fest, beyond the venue.

Likely more Mud, and more Bud. Still its as good an excuse as any to get my friends together for my birthday

Cass wrote:In over fourteen years of business only twice have ticket prices for the Festival been increased and the value offering along with the Festival has changed significantly within that time span. With new expenses to address at the Festival’s new home, tickets prices for the 2009 Festival will be increased.

Just checked the site, and there's been a HUGE jump in prices.

For the past couple of years, advance prices were:
Thursday - $35 (2007) / $40 (2008)
Friday - $20
Saturday - $25
Sunday - $20

This year, they are:
Thursday - $50
Friday - $45
Saturday - $45
Sunday - $45