TheBurg

22 | theburg | 04.16 L ast year, four local women put their heads together in an effort to rectify a grave injustice being perpetrated here in Harrisburg. Despite boasting a number of critically acclaimed local breweries, the area was not celebrating the barley, yeast and hops concoction with nearly as much fervor as it deserved. us, Harrisburg Beer Week was born. Returning for its second iteration, Harrisburg Beer Week, which runs the last week of April, looks to build on last year's momentum. e founders—Sara Bozich, Chelsie Markel, Colleen Nguyen and Tierney Pomone—have brought in some fresh faces to help make the process of putting on a multi-venue celebration a little easier. But they've also stuck with what made last year's fête so great—a commitment to raising funds to help make the city a better place. rIDINg the WAve Considering the success of last year's Beer Week, doing it again this year was a no-brainer. And, while 2015 might seem hard to top, the founders didn't hesitate to assess what worked and what could be improved. "Our thought this year wasn't necessarily to top the quantity of events (though that happened), but to fine-tune our key events and encourage venues and breweries to be even more creative," said Bozich. e biggest difference, added Nguyen, was they didn't need to convince anyone that their idea was for real. "Last year was such an overwhelming success that we are able to focus more on developing our fundraising effort instead of explaining what we're doing and why," she said. Perhaps the best example of this increased energy can be seen in the changes made to one of last year's best-received events, the Little Big Beer Fest, where brewers compete over who can make the best full- flavored and high-alcohol beer. "e Little Big Beer Festival is going to be bigger and better," said Markel. "More breweries, more collaborations and way more beers all created specifically for this event. is year, the breweries are competing against each other to see who can create 'the crown jewel' of LBBF as voted by event-goers." We'll Have anotHer from firkins to pairings to contests—Harrisburg Beer Week is back. by ANDreW DyrLI herMeLINg

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