Last year saw a record number of Minnesota craft-beer breweries open, according to MinnPost, and it appears there’s still room for expansion.

That helps explain the growth of one of our major fundraising events, the Prairie Brewfest, which last fall had a record 600 attendees and after four years continues to grow by about 100 attendees per year.

Of course, we hope it’s not ALL about the craft beer; that some people attend this annual craft-beer sampling festival because proceeds support the Eden Prairie Community Foundation and its efforts to fill unmet needs in EP.

But beer is a big part, so let’s get right to it:

We’re holding the fifth annual Prairie Brewfest from 3-6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, at Purgatory Creek Park. And, in addition to having food trucks, wine and spirit samples, and live music from Wondercure, we have about 20 brewers from around Minnesota who are offering samples of their work.

(Business sponsors help bring you Brewfest. Here’s a list of our 2018 Prairie Brewfest sponsors, so far.)

A number of this year’s craft brewers are new to Brewfest, including Fair State Brewing, Lakes & Legends Brewing, Urban Growler, and Wooden Hill Brewing.

Scheduled to provide craft-beer samples at 2018 Prairie Brewfest are:

612 Brew
August Schell Brewing
Burning Brothers Brewing
Castle Danger Brewing
ENKI Brewing
Excelsior Brewing
Fair State Brewing
Finnegan’s
Inbound Brewing
Insight Brewing
Lakes & Legends Brewing Co.
LTD Brewing
Lupulin Brewing
OMNI Brewing Co.
Surly Brewing
Unmapped Brewing
Urban Growler
Waconia Brewing Company
Wooden Hill Brewing

Flying Dutchman Spirits, located in Eden Prairie, will provide limited samples of distilled spirits, and the nearby Parley Lake Winery will provide wine samples. We’ll also have bottled water provided by Kowalski’s Eden Prairie Market.

If you are 21 or older, you can take part in all of this by purchasing an advance ticket for $30 – available on this website, from Eden Prairie Liquor stores, or from EPCF Board members – or pay $35 at the event. This is a rain-or-shine festival; if there’s inclement weather, we’ll be in the first level of the SouthWest Station parking deck across the street.

The Foundation is doing good work through beer. You can help by purchasing a ticket now and supporting your local community foundation.