Bitter is back with Empire Hops & Harvest Festival

From staff reports

Featuring Northern Michigan food and drinks, live performances, and more, the Empire Hops & Farvest Festival, Saturday, Oct. 7 from noon until 10 p.m., celebrates the beautiful and bitter hop plant. We’ll be celebrating all day in downtown Empire in the big tent on Front Street.

Admission is $15 and includes a commemorative glass and drink ticket. Additional drink tickets and food are available for purchase. Kids under 16 are free.

Free Parking is available two blocks north of Front Street in Johnson Park.

Be a volunteer, and show your love for hops. Pour your favorite brew, take tickets or help with security. For a four-hour shift you’ll receive a volunteer shirt, commemorative glass, drink tickets, and more. Click here to volunteer: Signup.com/go/hUWYGbB.

The Empire Hops Festival is sponsored by MI Local Hops, Taste the Local Difference, 9&10 News and Bay Area Recycling for Charities. Participating brewers include: Acoustic Draft Mead, Black Star Farms, Creston Brewery, The Filling Station, Lake Ann Brewing Co., Nomad Cidery, North Peak Brewing Co., Northwoods Soda & Syrup Co., Right Brain Brewery, St. Ambrose Cellars, Stormcloud Brewing Co., the Workshop Brewing Company.

Food vendors include: Art’s Tavern, Deering’s Jerkey, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, Mama Lu’s, Nepalese Have Another, Pleva’s Meats, Rocco’s Old World Pizzeria, Scalawags and the Shipwreck Café.

The music lineup includes: Jackpine, 5th Gear, Brotha James and The Benzie Playboys.