At the August Council of the Whole meeting, Columbia’s chamber of commerce, the Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce, was given a green light to begin the preparation for a beer festival. It was described as a “tasting” – seriously, in order to be a success at bringing people to downtown, it ought to be based on the Lititz model.

In Lititz, the town’s getting ready for its second beer fest on September 27 and it’s SOLD OUT!

In Lititz, “The Inaugural Lititz Craft Beer Fest, which was held on September 28, 2014, raised $57,000 after expenses with the help of our patrons and through the generosity of our sponsors. We are grateful for the support of our community and friends and want to remind you that all of the proceeds from the LCBF are used for charitable purposes by the Lititz AMBUCS (the event sponsor) in support of their mission, which is creating mobility and independence for people with disabilities.”

In Lititz, “Ticketholders can expect to be able to sample beer from more than 50 breweries at our Second Annual event.”

With nearly a year to plan the event, there’s lots of opportunity

• to visit other beer fests,

• to contact vendors and sponsor organizations,

• to find collaborating partner organizations, and

• to solicit community involvement.

We echo this Columbia Spy‘s commenter’s observation:

“Maybe if there were more food trucks more people would come after they come one time and see there are only a few food trucks They don’t come back again and there are alot of the shops that are not open if we are going to do fourth Friday let’s do it right.

Lancaster County has 25 brewers; York County, 13. – Central Penn Business Journal