Harvest Fest

Harvest Fest 2012 presented by Eastern Bank

Saturday October 27th, 2012 | Arts @ the Armory | Tickets start $35 at door)

Harvest Fest is Somerville Local First’s annual fall fundraiser and celebration. Held at Arts @ The Armory and presented in 2012 by SLF Member Eastern Bank, Harvest Fest brings together local: beer, wine, music, art and restaurants for one of the best tasting events of the year. Needless to say, we do the ‘nonprofit gala’ thing a little bit differently.

Breweries, restaurants, and entertainers are posted below the ticket box.

Here’s what you can expect to get with your ticket:

Unlimited 2 oz tastings from 8 local breweries
1 serving of food from some of Somerville’s finest eateries, adding up to a meal’s worth
Live, local music (The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library by day, DJ Nate Bluhm by night)
Fun photo booth, photos snapped at no cost
~$500 in great raffle prizes available
Costume contest w/ $50 Redbones gift cert. awarded to the winner (1 winner each session)
Support SLF and build a STRONG local economy!

Participating Breweries:

Berkshire Brewing Company
Blue Hills Brewing Company
Clown Shoes
John Havard’s Brewhouse
Mayflower
Naragansett
Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project
Rapscallion
Somerville Brewing Company (aka Slumbrew)

Participating Restaurants

3 Little Figs
Arts at the Armory Cafe
City Chicks
Cuisine en Locale
Daddy Jones
Eat at Jumbos
Foundry / Saloon
The Independent
Olde Magoun’s Saloon
Pescatore
PJ Ryans
True Grounds

Entertainers:

Cask Mouse
DJ Nate Bluhm
Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library

A Run Down of Session 2 – Harvest Fest Gets Sophisticated & Sweaty

Harvest Fest 2012 presented by Eastern Bank

Only a few days until the big day is finally here: The 4th Annual Harvest Fest! Here is your official breakdown of Session 2. (Read our Session 1 Preview here »)

Let’s start with the food. Unlike other some similar events, food is abundant and INCLUDED in your ticket price. Guests receive one small serving from each participating restaurant. It’s like getting a tasting menu…and its PART OF YOUR TICKET PRICE! YAY!

Here’s who you’ll see and sup with at Session 2…

All restaurants are SLF Members:

Get your tix now!

Now that you’re hungry, here’s some info that is sure to parch your thirst. At least 8 Breweries will be sampling their delicious local beer-y goodness, all night long.

Check out this AMAZING list (and note, we may still have a few surprises up our sleeve):

Clown Shoes – Harvest Fest 2011 alum, will be back for more in 2012!

Tickets available here.

With food and drink accounted for, let’s get into what will be moving your feet, hips, and soul all night long.

Following in the Harvest Fest tradition, we have lined up a sick DJ for our evening session. This year, Nathanael Bluhm(DJ, VJ, singer/songwriter, producer and party planner and promoter) will be keeping the crowd at the Armory moving with a high energy mix of Pop, Alternative, Electro & Disco beats. His sounds have taken him across the US, from dive bars and basement parties to art spaces, concert venues, and nightclubs.

Nathaniel Bluhm – bringing the Pop, Alternative, Electro & Disco beats to your eardrums!

His bands and DJ sets have shared the stage with many prominent acts, including Chromeo, Junior Boys, Neon Indian, Das Racist, Brazilian Girls, and JD Samson. In 2011, Time Magazine named his former band Mystery Roar one of the top 10 breakout artists at SXSW.

Co-founding parties like Group Hug and the legendary, classic disco night Foxy, he’s established a scene for Boston’s sophisticated and sweaty. The Fall of 2012 will see Bluhm release original music and debut a new dance night.

Learn more about Nate on his website here »

Pretty awesome, huh? All this can be yours, for 4 hours, and for only $30.

Did we mention that the proceeds form this event will fund a major portion of our budget this year? So buying a ticket is also supporting our work all year long.

Whatcha waiting for, get your tix now!

SLF

Originally posted on...October 25th, 2012
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The Scoop on the Harvest Fest Costume Contest

This year, Halloween’s at our house!

Halloween is right around the corner and we have the haunted party for you! Trick or Treat local style as Somerville Local First holds its annual Harvest Fest – the premier local brewery event of the season.

Harvest Fest 2012 Poster This monster bash features local beer & music, food from Somerville’s finest eateries, a fun photo booth, great raffle prizes and of course, the best local costume contest in town. All proceeds support SLF’s work to sustain a vibrant, local economy, so pull together your best Rainbow Brite, undead pirate or local-loving mad scientist attire and buy your tickets to Harvest Fest before they’re gone!

Eric Bornstein, famed local mask-maker, will judge the costume contest for Session I, and Session II guests will be treated to a panel of SLF board member judges – Joe Grafton, Jennifer Lawrence, and Grover Taylor (who may or may not be dressed as the “Eat at Jumbo’s” elephant).

As you’re putting your final puff paint on your costume, here are a few simple rules to keep in mind:

Keep it clean, kids. We know we don’t have to tell you, but we have to tell you: you’ll be in public. There will be people there. This will go on your permanent record. Etc.
Individual or group entries allowed. Whether you come by yourself or surrounded by your fellow Ninja Turtles, you can be “one entry” in the contest. If you enter as a group, though, you’ll have to split the prize. Speaking of which…
A $50 Redbones gift certificate will be awarded for the Best Costume from each session.

Already know what your costume will be? Tell us in the comments!

(Buy your tickets to Harvest Fest here)

Originally posted on...October 22nd, 2012
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Harvest Fest: It supports SLF. It’s about you

By Joe Grafton
You can get your tickets for either session of Harvest Fest 2012 here »

Nearly four years ago, Dan Parsons, former SLF Board President, of downTown Wine & Spirits, and I decided to put together an event. Both of us valued and knew many of the people in the local beer world, and saw the impact they had on the local and regional economy. We also knew that, given the funding environment for local business networks like SLF (see: non-existent), we needed to create something that would help raise money to support our work all year long.

In 2009, Harvest Fest was born, and through some growing pains and some amazing moments, it’s grown to be one of the best annual events in Somerville (in my humble opinion, you could say Greater Boston) and to be the major annual fundraiser for SLF.

But that’s not the whole story, not by a long shot.

In my three years of organizing the event as Executive Director, and now supporting the event as a Board Member, it’s been clear to me that what Harvest Fest is really about: it’s about YOU.

Relationships are built at Harvest Fest

There are plenty (and seemingly more by the day) brew festivals and tasting events. They offer a great way to get to know local businesses and, certainly for SLF, provide a great way to raise funds. But, it’s about more than great noshing and raising money, though both are worthy enough to stand on their own.

Harvest Fest, to me, has been an educational and culture shifting event, even if it does so in a silent or passive way. How many attendees have chosen a local restaurant in Somerville because they experienced the staff and the food at Harvest Fest? How many people, when perusing the beer isle stopped and considered: Which of these is local in New England? Based on my experience, a lot.

I have always believed that you can discuss, write, exclaim and promote all you want as an organization trying to change the world, but one of the best ways to change someone’s behavior (the best way?) is to SHOW them what things could be like.

Harvest Fest brings us together

To actually experience what it’s like to be in an environment like Harvest Fest, with all the local entrepreneurs who are building our local and regional economy through hard work and amazing products and services: that is what, in my mind, helps change people’s behavior the most.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be profiling the great participants at Harvest Fest. And one thing you’ll notice is how much these folks do to make the community and the region a better place.

So, while you consider your bevy of options that weekend, remember what Harvest Fest is about. It’s more than just a great deal. It’s more than just a way to dine and drink with some of the best in Somerville and New England. It’s even more than about supporting SLF and our mission to build local green and fair economies.

It’s about you. It’s about us.

And we have a great time together.

SO much fun

And together we can, if for only a few hours, envision and experience a world where local rules.

And one day it will. Partly, because of us and days like this.

Get your tickets here to join the experience this year.

Originally posted on...October 2nd, 2012
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Harvest Fest: Come for the Food and Beer, Stay for the Banter

By Community Blogger Bob McCarthy

“A donut muffin?!?” That’s what one friend plans on saying to 3 Little Figs, unsure whether he should be concerned that they burrowed into his brain and tapped into his every desire or over-the-moon ecstatic that they created this delicious indulgence, the very thing he craved.

It’s not just the chance to sample local food and beer that makes Harvest Fest special, but the opportunity to meet some of the people who have had a hand in shaping Somerville menus and culture. Whether it’s talking food with your favorite restaurant or discussing beer with the area’s best breweries, Harvest Fest is a day to interact with the chefs, brewers and entrepreneurs that make Somerville, well, Somerville—unique and fun and a little funky. So don’t be shy, go ahead and ask Daddy Jones, the new 80’s inspired cocktail lounge in Magoun Square, if you’ll be able to get a Slow Comfortable Screw, or if they’ve given any thought to having Purple Passion on tap. Be bold, talk offbeat ingredients with Slumbrew. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll gain some insight into what inspired them to use everything from blood orange and jasmine to wildflower honey in their beers.

Buy your tickets now!

For me, Harvest Fest will be a chance to smooth things over with Pretty Things. Long a fan of their beers, it was only recently that I met Dann and Martha at a tasting. Then subsequently insulted them. While sampling Field Mouse’s Farewell, their Farmhouse Ale, I noted a hint of banana. Dann nearly stroked. Apparently, he is meticulous about controlling the esters that produce this flavor. Hoping a little levity would fix things, I encouraged him to worry less about bananas and focus more on brewing another batch of Meadowlark IPA. Dann did not smile or grin or even blink, as that was all he’d been hearing for months. Undoubtedly, he will be eager to resume our conversation.

Whether it’s connecting, catching up or mending fences, Harvest Fest is truly an interactive experience. What better way to pass a Saturday than enjoying local food and beer while getting to know the very people responsible for it. Wander about, sample a bit of everything, strike up a conversation with restauranteurs and brewers who love what they do and are passionate about doing it. Certainly Blue Hills Brewery will be thrilled to discuss their Antimatter series, and might even reveal what the next offering will be. Maybe ask Old Magoun’s Saloon what they put in their mac and cheese that makes you want to subsist on a diet of it alone. By all means, inform Pescatore that their menu, with its gnocchi and pizza and parm and seafood, never fails to trigger a state of drooling indecision. They won’t mind.

On October 27, come to Harvest Fest ready to eat and drink some of the best local fare. Be prepared for great music, namely the super smart orchestral-indie-folk-rock of The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library. But in between raising a glass and shuffling your feet, take a moment to say hello to all the great breweries and eateries that make this event possible. Chit and chat and chew the fat. And while you have their attention, remember to thank them for helping to make your neighborhood unique, a place unlike every other place; a place that has its own vibe and attitude; a place whose entrepreneurs support local business by working hand-in-hand with other local businesses to put forth a great product that Somerville can call its own.

Buy your tickets to Harvest Fest 2012 now!

Originally posted on...September 26th, 2012
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Harvest Fest 2012 presented by Eastern Bank – Tickets Now Available

Harvest Fest 2012 presented by Eastern Bank
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Session 1: 1-5pm, Session 2: 6-10pm

It’s that time of year again! One of Greater Boston’s best annual tasting event and nonprofit fundraisers, Harvest Fest brings together some of the the best businesses in the local movement under one amazing roof at Arts at the Armory for your tasting pleasure. This year Harvest Fest will take place on Saturday, October 27. Session 1 is from 1-5pm and Session 2 is from 6-10pm.

~~A VERY limited amount of EARLY BIRD tickets are now available~~ ~~(UPDATE (9/7): EARLY BIRD TICKETS ARE NOW SOLD OUT, SUPPORTER AND SUPER SUPPORTER TICKETS ARE STILL AVAILABLE).~~ Walk up tickets are available. This event has sold out the past two years, so make sure you show up early to secure your tickets before they are gone!

~~Early Bird – $25 (SOLD OUT) // Supporter Ticket – $30 //~~ Door (if available) $35 // Super Supporter Ticket – $40+ —–whatever level, this is one of the best values all year long.

Note: If you are an SLF Member, you receive $5 off any SLF Event ticket, including Harvest Fest Tickets. You can join as a business, nonprofit, artist or community member Learn more here.