The U.P. Fall Beer Festival, on Saturday at the Ellwood Mattson Lower Harbor Park in Marquette, saw thousands of attendees enjoy beer from nearly 80 brewers. (Journal photo by Antonio Anderson)

MARQUETTE– The U.P. Fall Beer Fest was staged Saturday in the Mattson Lower Harbor Park in Marquette, with the 16th annual event attended by thousands of beer enthusiasts. And organizers say this latest edition may have even set a new record for attendance.

“Absolutely absolutely,” said Scott Graham, executive director of Michigan Brewers Guild, which puts on the gathering. “Sales have been down since COVID (19) compared to pre COVID but its still been great. We have over 3,000 people here and they had a really great time.”

At $55 a ticket with 15 tokens that could be traded each for a cup of beer, it can only be guessed the amount of money raised or beer served, but could be upwards of $165,000 raised and 45,000 beers served.

“We are a non-profit trade association,” said Graham. “Which is not like a charitable non-profit like a church. We serve our member businesses sort of like a chamber of commerce. So we put this together to raise funds to support the industry. So what people don’t know is that all this money goes to support these businesses and their industry.”

The U.P. Fall Beer Fest is one of two events held by the Michigan Brewers Guild annually. For those interested, the Detroit Fall Beer Festival, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 25 at Detroit’s historic Eastern Market, is next up.

“People are friendly, happy and the beer is flowing,” Graham said.

Antonio Anderson can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. His email address is aanderson@miningjournal.net.