TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — The Tallahassee Beer Festival isn't just a way to celebrate local breweries across the state of Florida, it's a way to honor, and support, 30 non-profits across Tallahassee that are making a difference in their community.
"If you're in the non profit world, it's important to have discretionary dollars that you can spend as you want, not tied to a grant that you have to raise. This is a life blood to a lot of them for that reason," said organizer Ben Graybar.
Graybar said with COVID-19 shutting down fundraising events for over a year and a half for many non-profits-- the festival will provide them with no-strings-attached money that can be used to serve their purpose.
Mike Terhune is the founder of Team Guardian. The organization helps veterans and service members reach resources here in Tallahassee and is in its second year of volunteering at the beer festival.
"Most non-profits right now are tough," said Terhune. "You have to be out and to be able to sell what you're trying to do as far as your volunteers and what you're trying to give."
The extra help these non-profits receive from the festival was almost halted however. The surge of the Delta Variant in late July and Early August made organizers postpone the original August date to keep everyone safe.
Now fans across Tallahassee are happy to be back at the Tucker Civic Center drinking beer and supporting non-profits in a fun way.
"It's also a great thing to showcase beer we have here in Tallahassee as an industry and in the surrounding areas, and for my money, we can put our breweries up against anybody else and I'm picking us 10 times out of 10," said Jamie VanPelt who attended this years festival.
The festival will return in late summer or early fall next year.
