By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – If all goes according to plan, the Clallam County Fair will have its first-ever beer garden this summer.
A public notice for bids will be advertised in local newspapers as early as this week, but the bidding is only open to 501c3, non-profit organizations. Beer Garden Committee member Laurie Davies says getting this done has been a long process.
“It’s been an interesting journey because we took this really seriously. You know, this is a big deal in our minds, and that’s why it’s taken longer than I suppose some people thought. You know, this would have been handled a couple of years ago, but covid shut us down. So, I want everybody to know that we’ve done our best, we’ve done our homework, and now we’ll just kind of see where it goes.”
The beer garden will be located in the grassy area adjacent to the rodeo grandstand, but it will not be available all four days of the fair. For at least this first year, it will only be open on the two days of the rodeo, with the gate opening one hour before the rodeo starts, and closing one hour after the rodeo ends.
You’d be forgiven for thinking it is therefore a rodeo beer garden, but Davies made a point to say that is definitely not the case.
“This is not a rodeo beer garden. The location is next to the grandstands because we had a number of people say to us, “If you’re going to have a beer garden, please do not put it up on the main part of the fairgrounds.” They wanted it away from the kids, and they want it away from the animal barns. And, of course, they didn’t want it by the carnival. And the majority of people did not want a four-day beer garden. They did not want it to be the emphasis of the beer garden. It’s like, we’ll have a beer garden. Here’s the time. Here’s the location. But it’s not all 4 days of the fair.
If your non-profit organization would be interested in hosting the Clallam County Fair’s first beer garden, watch your local papers for the public announcement and instructions on how to apply. The bidding deadline is June 16.