Weekend Report for Canfest 2014

Canfest is an international unlimited beer tasting festival of beers poured exclusively from cans.The one-night event held at the Peppermill Resort & Casino also benefits the Reno Bike Project, the community bicycle shop for which I am on the Board of Directors.

55+ other individuals and I volunteered to assist where needed. From 4PM we had one hour for the briefing and setup before the V.I.P. guests came through the door for the buffet dinner. Pizza was also provided for the volunteers to eat before the event. And yes, we were allowed to taste the beer we were pouring. Hey - we had to know what the brews tasted like so we could talk about it when pouring right?!?

Volunteers were briefed before the event

Besides the 100+ beers that were available to sample (many of which are not sold or distributed in Northern Nevada), there was also a live band, a silent disco, plenty of entertainment and a raffle of really nice prices including a tandem bike!!

Guests arrive for beer tasting at Canfest 2014

An hour after the V.I.P. entrance, a flood of about 3,000 people came through the door. We were pouring beer left and right into tasting cups.

Happy beer drinkers

I roamed from beer vendor booth to beer vendor booth to pour beer. Other times I watched over the silent disco area. Some of the guests would forget they were wearing headphones and walked off. They were wrangled back to the disco floor or they surrendered the headphones so that other guests could enjoy it.

Silent disco where people dance to music through headphones

Near the end of the evening, the raffle drawing took place. People gathered around the table to check their tickets against the signs to see what prizes they won.

People gathered around the raffle ticket drawing

At the end of the evening, the volunteers were able to take home as much canned beer as they could fit inside an official Canfest bag. Our goody bags allowed us to exit the ballroom passed the resort security.

Volunteers didn't leave until close to midnight so it was a long evening. But I had a lot of fun and it was worthwhile to be a part of an awesome fundraising event to support our local bike shop and the programs they provide for our community.