Three Eagles Beer Festival to fill Cornerstone Commons
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on February 29, 2016 1:46 PM
For five hours on April 16, Cornerstone Commons in downtown Goldsboro at 200 S. Center St. will transform into a beer lover's heaven.
The second annual Three Eagles Beer Festival, sponsored by the Goldsboro Three Eagles Rotary Club, will have more than 40 different beers for event-goers to try from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the club's April 16 event in Cornerstone Commons.
Tickets will be available for purchase online at www.goldsboroparamount.com/the-three-eagles-beer-festival/ and at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Goldsboro at 139 S. Center St.
You must be 21 or older to attend. A wristband will be issued, as well as a signature four-ounce beer tasting glass.
General admission tickets cost $38, and V.I.P. tickets are available for $54, which gets the ticket holder access to the event from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., providing an hours worth of early access to the event.
After getting the wristband, participants are free to try as few or as many beers as they like, and will be free to move between the various brewery stations to try various beers provided at the event.
"You can taste as much beer as you want, but we encourage people to do it responsibly," said event organizer Tom Bradshaw. "We try to play down the quantity of beer and focus on the tasting of the beer. Beer is actually a very complex drink, and we want to educate the public on the different styles of beer that are out there and have a good time as well."
The distributors at the event, from R.A. Jeffreys and Tryon Distributing, will provide samples of each beer in two ounce servings.
Breweries that will be present at the event include, Triangle Brewing Co., Carolina Brewing Company, Abita, Blue Point Brewing Company, Starr Hill, Lone Rider Brewing Company, White Street Brewing Co. and Bold Rock Hard Cider.
As event-goers imbibe the various varieties of amber nectar at the event, representatives from the breweries and distributors at the event will provide literature on each different beer describing the nuances of the beers and the brewery that makes it.
Music at this year's beer festival will be provided by The Downtown Chameleons, a local band comprised of J.D. Medlin, Brian Heim and Jackson Frederick.
While food is not the primary focus of the festival, there will be food trucks at this year's event on South Center Street so your afternoon lunch can consist of more than barley pop and liquid bread.
There are two food trucks that have been confirmed for the event -- Eat Roadkill and What's the Dilla?!
Eat Roadkill serves up burgers, wraps, sandwiches and more, while What's the Dilla?! whips up all different kinds of street grub, from quesadillas to tacos to loaded tots.
Shuttle services will also be provided for the event to reduce the risk of inebriated operation of a motor vehicle by the participants.
The shuttle service will be free, and will transport attendees to and from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and anywhere within the city limits.
Proceeds from the event will go to local non-profit organizations and to support international operations of rotary clubs all over the world.
The local non-profits supported by the Three Eagles Rotary Club includes the Boys and Girls Club of Wayne County, the H.G.D.C. Community Crisis Center, the Arts Council of Wayne County, the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corporation.
"The Downtown Goldsboro Development Corporation has been exceptionally helpful in planning and working with us to get this event downtown," Bradshaw said. "One of the reasons we wanted to have it downtown is to promote activities in downtown Goldsboro. We anticipate that the number of people attending the event will also frequent the stores and restaurants downtown after the event, which happened last year also. We had 400 people last year, and we expect 600 to 800 people this year."