Okay, we went to Chattanooga this weekend and checked out Beerfest. I thought you might want to read a short little review.
We arrived on Friday and stayed at Holiday Trav-L Campground. The campground was okay. The sites were very close together and some didn't have any green space at all. We had a little bit, but because of the picnic table (very heavy and on a small cement slab), which couldn't really be moved, and the firepit (which also couldn't be moved), there really wasn't much room for chairs. On the positive, the price was right (I think it was $35 per night for 2 people and $3 extra for any other people staying with you), and the bath house was very clean and had individual showers. Although I didn't use it, my husband and son-in-law both did and said it was nicer than the Fort...I'm not sure I believe them.
On Saturday, we started our day by going to the Tennessee Aquarium. We hadn't been there since the kids were little. It took us about 3 hours to go through the two buildings that they have there. We enjoyed the River Journey building more than the other (the original) building. They had penguins in the River Journey building and they were fun to watch. Also, when you looked out the windows, you could see them setting up for Beerfest!
We went back to the RV for a little while to rest. The campground is about a 15-20 minute drive from downtown Chattanooga. The Beerfest started at 2, but we didn't head back down there until around 4. Parking was a nightmare, but we eventually found a spot in the parking garage. About a week or so before the Beerfest, I saw a message on FB that mentioned a discount if you went to the Big River Brewing Company (or whatever it's called) and purchased you tickets in advance. Since we don't live in the area, I asked if I could order them online. I got a message telling me that I could and to call them. I called and ordered 5 tickets and 20 tokens. By ordering them in advance, I saved about $45. Unfortunately when I went to Will Call to pick them up, no one could find them. Luckily I had printed out all the emails that I had received from them, so they were able to find one of the people that had emailed me, and she found my tickets. One thing I didn't know was that when you go in, they give you a mug and one free token, so that meant we had enough for 25 beers!!! Way more than we needed...I'm sure my daughters and son-in-law would disagree with this though.
The booths with the beer are all lined up in one long line. There were probably 30 different companies and each company had at least 3 different kinds of beer to try. There was something for everyone! The bad part is that it was super crowded in this area and the ground was really sticky. We also noticed that many of the companies ran out of several beers pretty early. Another thing that I was surprised about was that the beers were in big coolers with spouts for pouring...I would have thought they would have had them in keg-r-ators (not sure how to spell that). They had four different bands, and most of the people brought blankets or chairs so that they could sit on the lawn and enjoy the music. There were 5 different booths for food (funnel cakes, corn dogs, buffalo wings, hamburgers, etc.), but the best thing we ate was garlic fries from the Big River Brewing Company booth...yum! They also had a long line of port-a-potties in case you needed them...we did, and they were disgusting, but I guess that is to be expected.
We stayed until about 9 or so, but then we had to get back to the RV to take the dogs out. As we were leaving, we noticed that the line to get in was super long. I felt bad for these people since they had run out of so many of the beers.
We had a great time, and we plan to go again next year. My sister and brother-in-law have decided that they will even join us next year since they are big beer lovers.
I think the Beerfest would be a great place for a GG!
