BrewHa Craft Beer Festival 2019 - Thunder Bay

I have a lot of ‘favourite’ events throughout the year here in Thunder Bay, but I think the BrewHa Craft Beer Festival at Prince Arthur’s Landing is up there as one of the best. Each year I’m more and more impressed with the vendors and also the people who attend. It’s such a chill and relaxed atmosphere and combine that with live music playing in the background by local bands, and you really can’t go wrong.

Each year in August this event takes place and there are 3 sessions. This time around I made it to the first two, which took place on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. I most likely would have went to the Saturday evening session but I had a beautiful wedding in Murillo I photographed.

That was more than enough time to get lots of great photos for The Walleye and video as well. Speaking of video, you can view the short promo video I did for the event under my videos here on my website. Back to the photos, there were lots of them! I have long since gotten past my fear of approaching people in public and asking for their photos. That’s what happens when you photograph weddings for a living. You either get used to interacting with strangers or you are doomed! Almost everyone I asked was game for a photo.

I of course captured a ton of photos of the breweries in attendance too. It goes without saying that I sampled some beer too. You know, to get the ‘full experience’. I’m already looking forward to next years event, and I guess for now, I’ll have to pour my store bought beer in the little keep sake glasses handed out at the event, to make it feel like I’m still there.

The Craft Revival - Holiday Edition 2018

Anyone who reads my blog posts will know that I try my best to get out and photograph events in and around Thunder Bay. The latest happening in Thunder Bay that I was very much looking forward to was the Craft Revival - Holiday Edition. Surprisingly, this was another event that I never had the chance to make it to before. I may be wrong, but I believe this was the 4 year it has taken place. I really wanted to go to the one that took pace earlier in the year but the timing just wasn’t right. Well, this time around my Anne and I made it out and we had a great time!

This years holiday edition had around 19 venues and over 200 vendors which is amazing. We made to almost every venue. Pretty much every one we went to was jam packed with people too. It was so nice to see such a fantastic turnout. I even had some photographer friends selling some of their work. That is definitely something I will have to do in the near future. Now I just have to print some of my work…

I of course had my camera with me and took photos along the way. I packed extremely light and just brought my Fuji X100F. It’s the perfect walk around lens and not intimidating at all. Plus, it takes pretty darn good photos. The highlight of the day was probably our pitstop at Prime Gelato for an Affogato, which now just learned they offer. If you haven’t had it yet, it’s essentially espresso poured over a gelato of your choice. Simply superb. We plan on going every Saturday until the end of time now.

I think we were downtown for just over 2 hours and it went by so fast and we saw so much. It was a blast talking to lots of the vendors and seeing such talent. I’m amazed at how many artists live in this city. It is very inspiring and I am proud to call Thunder Bay home. I’m already looking forward to the next event this summer. Hopefully I can make it!

BrewHa Craft Beer Festival 2018 - Thunder Bay

It was that time of year again this past weekend, for one my favourite events of the year, the BrewHa Craft Beer Festival. Not only do I love going to it, I absolutely love photographing it. It's such a good time and everyone is so friendly. This year amazed me more then the last in that so many people were actually asking to have their photo taken. That made my job much easier. Regardless, anyone I approached was all for it anyway.

This year saw so many vendors just as every other year that I have went. I got to try a wide array of beers I would never have had a chance to. There is definitely a lot of talented brewers in the region, that's for sure.

Along with photography, I have been dabbling in videography as well. Below you can view a short little highlight video I created of the event. Hopefully it will give you an idea of just how much energy and excitement there was at this years event. I can't wait until the next one!

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BrewHa Craft Beer Festival - 2017

BrewHa is one of those events, at least for me, that is on the top of my list for the summer. Luckily, I actually had some of the weekend free to attend and take photos. So, not only did a get to try some amazing beer with my wife Anne, but I also get to meet and photograph a lot of happy people. 

For those that haven't been before, there are 3 'sessions' over the course of 2 days, the Friday and Saturday. The Walleye asked if I wanted to cover the event for them so I once again jumped at the opportunity. I did have a wedding on the Saturday but my wife Anne and I still managed to go Friday night and Saturday afternoon, for the first two sessions. 

As soon as we arrived on the Friday around 7:30, they had Pipes and Drums of Thunder Bay performing in the middle of everyone. So I immediately got some photos of them. Then Anne and I walked around and explored the different vendors and got ourselves some beers to try out. 

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of 'hoppy' beer, if that is even a term, but almost every beer I tried were all good. I did manage to find some lighter beers and so did Anne. Amongst our beer tasting, I constantly looked for people to photograph and just overall great moments, which there were a lot of. They even had a band performing so I made sure to get some photos of them. 

We pretty much stayed almost until closing time at 9:00pm and then headed downtown for one more drink. The good thing about BrewHa is that all the local bars and restaurants downtown participate and benefit from the increased activity. It was great seeing so many people out having fun.

I only had a bit of time on the Saturday so we headed down around 12:30.. We only managed to try a couple beers and I ate a very tasty Prospector burger. As usual, I was still able to capture some more photos of people in the crowd as well as some of the actual vendors, since it wasn't too busy when we were there. The night before, some of the lines were at least 30 people deep. 

I can't wait until next years event and I'm sure both me and Anne will be once again going. Thank you to all the organizers and volunteers for putting on an amazing event and also to The Walleye for asking me to photograph it for them. 

BrewHA Craft Beer Festival 2016

It always amazes me just how many cool events there are in Thunder Bay each summer. Probably my favourite so far this year was this past weekends' BrewHA Craft Beer Festival. This is the second year it has taken place and it doesn't looks like it should be around for years to come. I got the chance to photograph and experience it first hand thanks to The Walleye who, for those who follow this blog, know that I do freelance photograph for them. 

I was alone either, as my wife Anne joined me for the weekend event. Neither of us really knew what to expect but as soon as we entered the grounds we were amazed at just how many people took part in the event. It's no surprise though as each of the 3 sessions sold out pretty quick. The benefit of photographing an event like this is that you get to meet a lot of random people. Often I am approaching strangers and asking to take their photograph. Of course it helps that it's an event all about beer so let's just say that most people were more then willing to get their photo taken.

Speaking of beer, I couldn't believe how many great vendors there were there as well as all the different types of beer. Some of them I had heard of before but there were lots of different ones I had never seen before. It just goes to show you that Thunder Bay and the surrounding cities have an ever growing community of craft beer specialists. Along with the beer vendors there was some awesome food there and, some fantastic live musical performances and even a huge game of beer pong played with garbage cans. 

I simply can't wait for next years event. Just walking around experiencing all the different beers and seeing all the people enjoying themselves smiling and laughing. All in all it was a very fun atmosphere. Cheers!