BUCKTOWN — This weekend's Bucktown Arts Fest will offer works by nearly 200 artists, live music, dancing and an expanded beer tent with beers "you don’t normally see at summer festivals," according to organizers of the long-running event.
Staffed entirely by a volunteers, the 29th annual fest is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in Senior Citizens Memorial Park at 2300 N. Oakley Ave. in Bucktown, just east of Western Avenue.
View a list of exhibiting artists here. View the entertainment lineup here.
On Tuesday, Teddy Harris, chair of the fest's beer and wine committee, said this weekend's fest will offer twice the amount of beer than last year, after last year's experience when the beer tent sold out of 10 craft beers within two hours.
Harris said the annual fest is different from all others because it is "strictly volunteer and very neighborhoodie."
"It's low-key and is more about the art than the other festivals," Harris said.
All proceeds from the fest's beer and wine sales are donated to arts programs and music classes at nearby Holstein Park and local schools.
Besides the standard choice of Summit Summer Ale, available all weekend for $6 per glass, there will also be a rotating list of more than 20 specialty brews for $8 each.
Though the fest begins at 11 a.m. on both days, the craft beer sales do not begin until 1 p.m. on Saturday when the first two specialty barrels are tapped, Harris said.
After each barrel runs dry, another specialty beer will take its place.
A few of the weekend's craft beers, selected by experts from Lakeshore Beverage, include:
Saturday, Aug. 23
Ale Syndicate du Sable Belgian Ale
Founders Double Trouble IIPA
Founders Rubaeus Raspberry Ale
Goose Island The Ogden Belgian Tripel
Moody Tongue Crushed Green Coriander Wit
Uinta Dubhe Black IPA
Sunday, Aug. 24
3 Sheeps Baaad Boy Black Wheat Ale
Brooklyn Brewing Sorachi Ace Saison
Evil Twin Molotov Cocktail IIPA
Flossmoor Station Dunkelweizen
Local Option Sweet Leif Biere de Garde
Ommegang Belgian Independence Day 2014 Belgian Ale
The Bucktown Arts Fest is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Senior Citizens Memorial Park, 2300 N. Oakley Ave. Admission is free. For more info, visit bucktownartsfest.com.
To volunteer for a two- or three-hour shift, sign up here.
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