HUDSON – With dozens of breweries on hand, food trucks and games, the Hudson Elks was the place to be on Aug. 10.
Community members gathered for the Hudson Rotary Club’s 9th annual Spirit of Hudson Brewfest. According to Justin Provencher, the event featured 43 breweries from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire along with six food trucks, live music from Disco Lemonade and Rolling Stogies Mobile Humidor.
For Provencher, his favorite part about Brewfest is seeing smiles on everyone’s faces.
“We plan and organize this – myself and Jeff Tucker from the Rotary Club do a lot of it. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into it. Whether we make a dollar or we maker $20,000, it’s just nice to see everyone have a great time, and also a great opportunity to showcase the breweries,” he said.
Last year, about 1,250 people attended the event, and the Rotary Club estimated that approximately 1,500 may show up this year.
“Given that it’s been raining all week, it really slowed ticket sales. I think we’ll have a lot of people buying here today,” Provencher said.
He estimated that they may have about the same number of attendees as last year.
According to Provencher, this was the first time the event has been held at the Elks since 2019; last year the Brewfest took place in Avidia Bank’s parking lot on South Street.
“It was a little tight, so we wanted to come here,” Provencher said. “There’s a lot more space at the Elks. It gives us more room for vendors, for guests, for everything. It’s a much more favorable location for the venue.”
The Brewfest will be back at the Elks next year, he said.
All of the proceeds go to the Hudson Rotary Club. This year, the club sponsored a student to go to Malawi to help out with a medical mission. The club also sends 10 kids to a leadership conference, provides scholarships, helps out with reading program, helps the Hudson Fire Department to purchase equipment and supports field trips.
For more information, visit https://hudsonrotary.wordpress.com/.
