The traditional Prairie Brewfest fundraising event that had been scheduled for Sept. 12, 2020 has been canceled by the Eden Prairie Community Foundation.

An outdoor craft-beer festival also featuring music and food trucks, Brewfest had been held every year since 2014, with growing attendance each year. Last year’s event drew nearly 750 attendees.

But it’s the Foundation’s second major fundraising event this year to fall victim to the COVID-19 pandemic. The EP Gives gala that had been scheduled for May 2 was postponed to Oct. 24.

Now, the Foundation is hoping that people who would have purchased a ticket to the September event will instead make a donation to EPCF so that its programs and operation can continue. Prairie Brewfest and EP Gives supply most of the Foundation’s revenues in a typical year.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to help the Foundation continue to fill unmet community needs – including grants that help neighbors facing poverty, abuse, and other hardships – then please use a credit card and donate on this website.

The Foundation waited as long as it could before making a decision on 2020 Brewfest, but there were three big obstacles to a festival held in the traditional way:

• Current state guidelines would restrict the gathering to 250 persons, erasing most of the event’s proceeds.
• Most brewers have canceled their festival appearances for 2020, instead focusing – and rightly so – on getting their brewery business back to normal.
• Many of the numbers associated with the pandemic seem to be headed upward, at least nationally, bolstering the perception that large gatherings are unsafe.

In the end, concerns about safety helped sway Foundation leaders, who hope to bring the event back in fall 2021.

The Foundation is also asking folks to support the brewers and sponsors who have made Prairie Brewfest such a great event in past years. You can find those lists on our Prairie Brewfest page on this website.