By Matt Fernandez
Signal Staff Writer
There are few things as exciting and adventurous as the pirate’s life, and Santa Clarita residents will soon have a chance to live out their swashbuckling fantasies while also supporting charity.
SCV Brewmasters will host their fourth annual Pirate Beer Festival at the Vista Valencia Golf Course on Nov. 10, where adult attendees can dress up as pirates and enjoy craft beer, vendors and entertainment. Proceeds from the event will support Back to the War Zone, which provides assistance to veterans suffering from PTSD, and Prayer Angels for the Military, who send care packages to deployed members of the military.
“When this event started, it was just supposed to be about craft beer tasting for charities, but then we decided we wanted to have a theme,” said Rebecca Owens, communications director for SCV Brewmasters. “Our 2016 event happened to be the weekend of Halloween, so someone came up with the idea of having a pirate theme, and we invited all the attendees to dress up in any pirate or Renaissance-themed costume. That was so well-received that the two ideas just married each other, and it’s a weird idea but people love it.”
According to Owens, the festival has grown from 500 attendees its first year to over 2,500 at last year’s event, 75 percent of whom she estimated showed up in costume.
She hopes that this year’s event will draw in at least 3,000 people and that they will raise 20 percent more money for charity.
This year’s festival will feature free craft beer, over 30 craft and food vendors, a pirate ship and performances from rock bands L.A. Guns and Bullet Boys. “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor Martin Klebba and other celebrities are also scheduled to appear.
“There are very few pirate festivals but there is a circuit of Renaissance vendors that travel to different fairs, and even though they don’t cater to the exact time period these vendors can adapt very easily to our needs,” Owens said. “But believe it or not there are plenty of entertainment groups that only do pirate themed events, and we have over 100 pirate entertainers coming to our event, triple what we had last year. The bands are very entertaining, so it looks like we’ll have a rock and roll pirate festival this year.”
Advanced tickets for the festival are available here and cost $15 for designated drivers, $30 for general admission and $40 for VIP. Tickets will be sold for $40 at the door and are cash only. Veterans and members of the military can attend free of charge with their military ID and driver’s license.
More information about the vendors and entertainers scheduled to attend the “Pirate Beer Festival” can be found at https://www.scvbrewmasters.com/index.php.
