A couple of economic items from the last couple of weeks I hadn’t gotten to yet, related to charitable money-raising from Bend’s breweries and beer scene:

Deschutes Brewery‘s Street Pub project has raised over $1 million over three years. Street Pub takes place at various cities around the country, and in each city Deschutes partners with one or more non-profits to give back to the respective communities. From that press release:

Deschutes Brewery’s Street Pub finished out its third annual national tour this year, bringing the total raised for nonprofits to $1,047,860 in just three years.  In that time, the 400-foot-long traveling pop-up pub visited 13 cities across the country and welcomed more than 300,000 beer fans who turned out to drink more than 2,800 kegs of damn tasty beer, all while raising money for nonprofits in their hometowns.

The 2017 tour, which just wrapped up last month, visited the following cities and supported these charity partners:

• Cincinnati, OH – The Starfire Council and Giving Hope
• Roanoke, VA – Blue Ridge Land Conservancy, Roanoke Outside Foundation, Bradley Free Clinic and Pathfinders for Greenways
• Milwaukee, WI – Hunger Task Force and Westown Association
• Portland, OR – Cascade Aids Project, Children’s Cancer Association and Farmers Ending Hunger
• Sacramento, CA – Runnin’ for Rhett

In addition to Street Pub, the release indicated that Deschutes will additionally donate more than $300,000 to other community programs this year.

The 2017 Bend Brewfest raised over $8,500 for local charities. From the press release:

Three days, more than 200 craft beverages and thousands of visitors later, the annual Bend Brewfest did it again. Held in August at the Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend, Oregon’s Old Mill District, the festival raised $8,583 which was divided equally between four local nonprofit organizations who will use the money to help achieve their respective missions.

• Deschutes River Conservancy – to restore streamflow and improve water quality in the Deschutes Basin.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Oregon – to provide mentoring programs for area youth.
• Neighbor Impact – to help families access skills for success, family services, financial assistance, food, housing, heat and energy assistance.
• Bend Fire Department’s Community Assistance Program – identify crisis within our community and provide timely solutions with purpose and compassion.

I haven’t seen overall numbers for what the Brewfest earned for the local economy (I don’t know if they examine the economic impact as the Oregon Brewfest does), but it’s good to see this money getting back to these organizations. These non-profits will, incidentally, be the same for 2018.