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New Burnaby craft beer fest to raise funds for low-income families, seniors

Burnaby Community Services is ditching the black tie for its newest fundraiser – the inaugural Burnaby Beer Festival. Set for Nov.
Burnaby Beer Festival, Dageraad, Community Services, Stephen D'Souza
Dageraad Brewing owner and brewer, Ben Coli, left, and Burnaby Community Services executive director Stephen D'Souza prepare to toast a new fundraiser, the Burnaby Beer Festival, set for November.

Burnaby Community Services is ditching the black tie for its newest fundraiser – the inaugural Burnaby Beer Festival.

Set for Nov. 13, the event will feature beer tastings from select Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley micro-breweries, food tasting from a popular local food truck and live music.

“We’ve all participated in the pub nights and we’ve all participated in the black-tie gala. This is somewhere nicely in between,” Community Services executive director Stephen D'Souza told the NOW. “We thought we really wanted to do something a bit different, maybe break the mold a little bit of what we traditionally do in the charitable sector and think of how we might be able to engage a younger audience, someone who’s maybe looking at having a bit more of a good time and less of a fundraising gala.”

Six breweries have already confirmed: Bridge from North Vancouver, Central City from Surrey, Doan’s Craft from Vancouver, Old Yale from Chilliwack, Phillips from Victoria and Burnaby’s own Dageraad Brewing.

“Dageraad seems to be flying the flag for us right now, so we first approached them and talked about this idea, and they were really excited,” said D’Souza.

The event will take place at Spacekraft, a “coworking” space that opened in the Sovereign highrise at 4501 Kingsway last month.

“It’s a really nice open space,” said Community Services fundraising coordinator

Resh Pono, “and the best part about it is they were very open to having an event like this, basically open to whatever we wanted to bring in.”

Catering will be provided by K&J Food Truck, best known for its schnitzels and other Austrian-inspired cuisine.

Entertainment will feature guitar soloist Sandro Camerin and Vancouver-based funk band We Destroy Tokyo.

Cost will be $35 for admission and three samples. Extra samples will be available for $2 each.

Tickets will be available soon on Eventbrite.

Proceeds from the event will help fund programs for low-income families and seniors experiencing isolation.

For more information, contact Burnaby Community Services at 604-299-5778.