By JAYMIE DEPEW

Journal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE — Considering the peculiar Upper Peninsula weather, this year’s third annual Spring Ferment festival has a new indoor location at Lakeview Arena in Marquette.

For the last two years Spring Ferment, which is organized by the Marquette Home Brewer’s Club, was held at Ellwood A. Mattson Lower Harbor Park in Marquette during early June, rain or shine. This year’s festival will take place March 24 from 1 to 6 p.m.

“We’ve had weather issues in the past so we’re excited to be indoors this year. After watching weather reports in horror the last couple of years, it was time to figure something out,” said David Gill, president of the brewer’s club. “We’ll be celebrating closer to the spring equinox this time, too. It’ll be a great way to kick off the spring.”

Tickets for the event, which include 15 beer, wine, mead, cider, kombucha, and/or cheese servings, as well as a commemorative glass, can be purchased for $35 online or $40 at the door.

Following suit to prior years, an array of Michigan breweries, wineries, cideries and meaderies will bring their own unique fermented products to the event for all to try. Previous vendors have included Beard’s Brewery, Cheboygan Brewing, Petoskey Brewing Company, Right Brain Brewery, Bell’s Brewery, Upper Hand Brewery, Short’s Brewing Company, Blackrocks Brewery, Ore Dock Brewing Company, Cognition Brewing Company, Marquette Home Brewers, Starcut Ciders, Threefold Vine Winery, Algomah Acres Meadery and Mackinac Trail Winery, with kombucha provided by Superior Culture.

Gill said a similar lineup can be expected for this year’s event but to check social media pages for any updates.

The Spring Ferment festival will also host several food vendors that will bring a range of purchasable items, such as pretzels, coney dogs, pizza and more. Kingsley-based company Boss Mouse will have cheese servings that will be included as an option with the ticket price.

“It’ll be an upgraded food experience in general,” Gill said. “There’ll be a little bit of everything fitting to the event.”

All proceeds from the festival will be donated to local charitable organizations and live local music will be playing throughout the day, Gill said.

“Hopefully we can begin a signature festival at Lakeview Arena,” Gill said. “That’s our goal.”

According to the Brewer’s Club website, all tickets are non-refundable and festival attendees must be ages 21 or older to enter, even if they are designated drivers and are not drinking. Anyone entering the festival on a designated driver ticket will not be permitted to drink at the event. Designated driver admission is $5 at the door and includes a festival glass and two tickets for kombucha. Designated drivers do not need to register in advance and there is no limit on those tickets, the website states.

For more information or updates regarding the festival, visit https://www.marquettehomebrewers.com or https://www.facebook.com/SpringFerment/

Jaymie Depew can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is jdepew@miningjournal.net.