Cider & Mead Festival Set for Saturday, July 22

Saturday, July 22, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., Village Green

— from Mary Ann Sircely —

It’s that time again! For the seventh year in a row, Orcas Island will host the Orcas Island Cider & Mead Festival on Saturday, July 22, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Village Green in Eastsound.

At last count, 17 producers will be offering a wide variety of ciders and meads: 2 Towns Ciderhouse, Ace Premium Craft Ciders, BoatHouse Ciderworks, Ethereal Meads, Finnriver Farm & Cidery, Hierophant Cidery, HoneyRun Winery, Incline Cider, Nectar Creek, PearUP, Portand Cider, Rev. Nat’s Hard Cider, Schilling Hard Cider, Seattle Cider, Sky River Mead and Westcott Bay Traditional Cider.

And visitors to the big white tasting tent and cider garden will be able to purchase and take home their favorite brews.

Adults 21 and over may enter the tasting tent for as little as $15 that includes admission, tastes, and a commemorative tasting glass. And by popular demand, this year tickets may be ordered in advance via Brown Paper Tickets – just go to our website and click on the link.

All proceeds benefit Orcas Island Children’s House, a non-profit early learning center that provides a dynamic play-based curriculum to prepare children for kindergarten and life.

Judging of the hotly contested Orcas Island Home Brew competition will begin at 2 p.m. Coveted prizes this year are beautiful custom made Cider Festival growlers created by Orcas Island Growlers.

And music, music, music! Matt Sircely, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, returns to the stage on the Village Green perform a wide range of roots music styles. The big white tasting tent will be pitched alongside the Farmers Market, which will be in full swing offering produce, flowers, food, and crafts.

A huge thank you to our generous sponsors: Dickerson Distributors, Sound Beverage Distributors, T Williams Realty, CiderBox, Girl Meets Dirt, Gudgell Properties & Seastar Lodging, Island Hoppin’ Brewery, Island Market, Island’s Sounder, Permit Resources, Ray’s Pharmacy & General Store, Roses Bakery Café, The Barnacle, Madrona Point Insurance and Eleanor’s Great-Grampa.

To stay informed, check it all out at www.orcasislandciderfest.org and www.facebook.com/orcasislandciderfest.