All cheer for beer at local festival - Sentinel & Enterprise

I guess if you lose all your businesses in a community, your crime rate sky rockets , schools lay teachers, police , firefighters off, they close the library, senior center and are basically broke

the only thing left to do is to get all the beer drinkers together and hope that the state will take them over like they did in Springfield and get into Receivership

Concerned

Lowell, MA

I am against the city sponsoring alcohol related activites. Drunk driving is hugely an issue and it is expected that everyone there that drove themselves home were over the legal limit. It's wrong to innocent people at risk of a drunk driver.

Marie P

Isn't this suppose to be a family event?? So let's let mom and dad get loaded and then drive the kids home...Whose watching how much these people are drinking?? And what if they killed someone or got stopped on the way home? Whose responsible?? The city? What a stupid thing to have at such an event...

Check your facts first

Before posting. I know that's a lot to ask and it's rarely done on this board but maybe once in a while? The city did not sponsor this activity. It's a group called "Beers for Good" that put together well planned events to benefit good causes. Yes, some members of the group do happen to work for the city. This year the proceeds went to the Fitchburg Civic Days celebration, which most likely wouldn't have happened due to the ongoing budget crisis. And to say it's expected that everyone there was over the legal limit is ignorant and even moronic. This is a beer sampling festival, not a beer chugging contest. Their sampline glasses were about 2 ounces. It was a great day that brought people into the city and downtown for a change.
http://www.beersforgood.com

Marie P

And you need booze to get people to go to your town and your proud of that?? I didn't say everyone was over the legal limit and even though it was sampling, people can sample a lot...How many different beer companies were there?? That's a lot of sampling, dontcha think??? Can you go back for more sampling once you tried it already??

Check your facts first wrote:

Before posting. I know that's a lot to ask and it's rarely done on this board but maybe once in a while? The city did not sponsor this activity. It's a group called "Beers for Good" that put together well planned events to benefit good causes. Yes, some members of the group do happen to work for the city. This year the proceeds went to the Fitchburg Civic Days celebration, which most likely wouldn't have happened due to the ongoing budget crisis. And to say it's expected that everyone there was over the legal limit is ignorant and even moronic. This is a beer sampling festival, not a beer chugging contest. Their sampline glasses were about 2 ounces. It was a great day that brought people into the city and downtown for a change.
http://www.beersforgood.com

fact checker

I think we cross posted my remark was directed at another person above who said everyone was over the limit. And no, it wasn't a family event. 21+ to get in to the door. Police details, wristbands, ID checks, etc. And I will grant you that multiple samples can put you over the limit, but this is no different than going to a bar/restaurant and being overserved. It's up to the patron and the staff to act responsibly. They even had a team designated to call taxis for people if they requested and numbers posted for cabs all around the place. Yes, it was a beer focused event necessary to bring the people downtown. Next weekend is the bike race! There will be 10 times the crowds but no beer!:-(

Marie P wrote:

And you need booze to get people to go to your town and your proud of that?? I didn't say everyone was over the legal limit and even though it was sampling, people can sample a lot...How many different beer companies were there?? That's a lot of sampling, dontcha think??? Can you go back for more sampling once you tried it already??
<quoted text>

Emmerson Biggens

What a bunch of whining killjoys! I don't hear any of you civic minded zealots complaining about the junkies shooting up all over town or the hookers up on river street or the welfare leaching illegal aliens. But when a few regular people attend a beer tasting all of a sudden you loudmouths start to act like you're concerned about community safety!

Confused

Norfolk, MA

A tourist event that brings money into a nonprofit organization is now a bad idea? People need to find real issues to complain about.

frustrated

I'm shocked by the comments here, though I suppose I shouldn't be-these comment forums tend to be more negative than positive in general. The City didn't sponsor the festival, Civic Days and BeersforGood did. It was run completely by volunteers, none of it on the City dime. Every penny earned goes towards paying for the fireworks and parade,(none of the Civic Days events are paid for with taxpayer funds).
The event was designed in a way to make the people sampling beer pace themselves and of course you can get drunk if you want, just like at a bar or restaurant, but you have to work HARDER to do it. I'm sure all of you read the news this morning and saw that there were no incidents yesterday or last night because of the event.
The festival brought people in to downtown Fitchburg from all over Massachusetts. One of the comments I heard again and again was " what a great downtown you have, what a beautiful park, I never new it was here". "Fitchburg should have more festivals here!" Isn't that a good thing for the Community?

Rick

This is not a tourist event! An accident is waiting to happen.

well done

Gardner, MA

Great job by everybody who put on the Brewer's Festival yesterday. Good music, food and people, along with 24 brewers under two tents. Everybody who has something bad to say is a miserable putz who doesn't have enough social skills to attend such an event. Get a life and at least one friend!

Ned

How much of the prep work for this event was done on city time by city workers? Bet you'd be surprised if you knew the answer considering the mess we're in!!!

Alcohol Facts

Clinton, MA

I'm not shocked by the comments. When I got to the bottom of the article and saw that there were 11 comments, I instantly assumed they were from MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) members or others saying that it was a bad idea... I guess I was right. I agree with "Check your facts first" and "frustrated" you could get drunk, but with the sample size and over 2000 people waiting for the same samples you would have to work harder.

Your liver processes about 1-oz of pure alcohol per hour and a 12-oz beer is equivalent to 1-oz of pure alcohol. If you were to consume 12, 2-oz samples in 1 hour, equivalent to 2 beers and assuming no other factors are involved the blood alcohol level would be around a .05 which is still under the legal limit.

umm

fact checker wrote:

I think we cross posted my remark was directed at another person above who said everyone was over the limit. And no, it wasn't a family event. 21+ to get in to the door. Police details, wristbands, ID checks, etc. And I will grant you that multiple samples can put you over the limit, but this is no different than going to a bar/restaurant and being overserved. It's up to the patron and the staff to act responsibly. They even had a team designated to call taxis for people if they requested and numbers posted for cabs all around the place. Yes, it was a beer focused event necessary to bring the people downtown. Next weekend is the bike race! There will be 10 times the crowds but no beer!:-(
<quoted text>

I attended yesterday, as well. They were checking everyone as they were leaving and asking them if they needed a cab ride.

response to ned

None, it was planned and organized in the evenings, during lunch hours or personal / vacation time was used if work had to be done during business hours. Why would you make the connection between a volunteer/ fundraiser event and the financial state of the City??????

Ned wrote:

How much of the prep work for this event was done on city time by city workers? Bet you'd be surprised if you knew the answer considering the mess we're in!!!

response to ned

by the way- I have no idea why this keeps saying I'm from Dover...

Robin Streb

New York, NY

I can say that as one of the organizers of the event, we met mostly on Sunday evenings - usually until 10pm or so. We met on Sundays so we would have the entire week to get things done, and give us plenty of time to report back to the other group members.

I am the one member of Beers For Good that is not a city employee, but I give my time to the city in various ways. I am also one of the volunteers for the Farmers Market at Riverfront Park. I do a lot of work to get people involved in our city, and I do not get paid for any of my time. I know first hand how much all four of us love the city of Fitchburg. Anything we can do to bring people downtown, and encourage the growth of the city, we will do.

This is our third event as a fundraiser for the City of Fitchburg (twice for Civic Days, and once to purchase books for the Fitchburg Public Library), and yesterday's event was our most successful!

I know that everyone who was there had a wonderful time. Volunteers, patrons, brewers, and band members alike!

www.beersforgood.com
www.fitchburgfarmersmarket.com

Rich

There is a lot of negativity out there about this event. Where were you when churches have "Los Vegas" events with beer being served or when there is an Octoberfest at Saima Park. Come on all of you out there...GET HAPPY!

nothing changes

People in this town just don't like to see anything successful happen or other people enjoying themselves. Unfortunately, it's become the Fitchburg way. Thanks to these unhappy people, you've become known for it!

Tired