STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Mix brews and line dancing this year when the Ketchum/Sun Valley Rotary Club holds its 12th annual Sun Valley Brewfest.
The 2027 Sun Valley Brewfest will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 27, at Ketchum Town Square.
Attendees will get a commemorative glass that entitles them to 4-ounce tastes of as many beers, ready-to-drink beverages, ciders and wines as they wish to sample.
And there’ll be plenty to choose from, what with Brewfest offering more than 40 brewers, cider makers and purveyors of hard seltzers, canned craft cocktails and other ready-to-drink beverages from all over the Northwest.
Among those expected to attend: Mixed-Up Cocktail Co., Schilling Hard Cider, Talking Cedar Brewing, Holesinsky Vinyard and Winery, Farmers Brewing Co. of California, Monaco, Snake River Brewing, Mother Earth Brew Co., and Lost Lake Cider.
The 12th annual Brewfest will features live music by DJ John Valenzuela, a longtime afficionado of the Grateful Dead and others.
It will include family-friendly games. And it will include line dancing for all ages, courtesy of Pamela Ann Ridgway and the Spotters. The line dancing will take place at 2 p.m. and is free with Brewfest admission.
“It’s a small intimate family-friendly event—a grassroots-community event with a perfect mix of tourists and locals,” said David Patrie, the present of the Ketchum/Sun Valley Rotary Club. “Brewers love it because it’s small and intimate. And it’s really our only fundraiser of the whole year. So, the funds we raise this weekend we’ll have the privilege to distribute to local nonprofits and to scholarships for graduating seniors.”
Partakers are encouraged to roll to the Brewfest on bicycle. Free valet will be provided for bicyclists by Trailhead Bicycles. The Trailhead team will even have tools and a pump for those who need a quick tune.
Food from Wood Fire Pizza and Grill, Shave Ice Sun Valley, Joe’s Juice and other vendors will be available for sale.
The Brewfest has grown from 500 attendees in its first year to more than 1,500 last year. About half of attendees are from the Sun Valley area. Forty-two percent come from other parts of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Oregon, Montana and Colorado. The other 10 percent came from outside the Mountain West, including five foreign countries.
The Ketchum/Sun Valley Rotary Club, which meets weekly for lunch and fellowship and to hear from speakers, has raised more than $275,000 for local nonprofits and student scholarships during the past 10 years. Last year’s Brewfest raised $30,000.
“Half the money goes to scholarships for graduating seniors. The rest of the money goes to things like the Blaine County Education Foundation backpacks packed with school supplies at the beginning of the schoolyear. This summer we’re defraying the cost for the speech and debate team going to nations. If we raise enough money, we can spend a whole year giving it away to the nonprofits that ask,” said Patrie.
A Brewfest package includes two Brewfest passes plus a raffle ticket for a drawing to win two VIP two-day passes to the Baldy Bluebird Music Festival July 3-4 at Sun Valley or a BCRD Nordic season pass. Brewfest tickets alone cost $30.
Additionally, 200 raffle tickets, available for $50 each, will be sold to win a 2026/27 Sun Valley Season Ski Pass.
Admission tickets and raffle tickets are available at https://sunvalleybrewfest.com/store/. Be sure to bring a copy of your ticket receipt and your ID the day of the event.
Feel like helping out? Volunteers are needed to assist with the 1,500 attendees. Contact Ed Sinnott at esinnott49@gmail.com if you’d like to help.