The July 2023 Oregon Brewers Festival Has Been Canceled

“We’re disappointed to share this news, but we know that it’s the right thing to do.”

Oregon Brewers Festival Photo courtesy of Oregon Brewers Festival.

By Bennett Campbell Ferguson

The Oregon Brewers Festival has announced that its July 2023 fest has been canceled, citing high “costs, lower attendance, and extreme weather” as factors in the decision.

“We’re disappointed to share this news, but we know that it’s the right thing to do,” OBF said in a press release. “After three decades of producing OBF, we’ve developed a solid understanding of what it takes to give our attendees a great festival. And it’s clear when those factors aren’t coming together for a successful event.”

The cancellation of OBF 2023 is a brutal blow to Oregon beer lovers, given that it’s the largest beer event in the state. (Last year’s event featured 40 beers from 40 Oregon breweries, with 80% of the beverages made exclusively for the celebration or debuting there.)

That said, OBF plans to return “when the time is right.” Founder Art Larrance and the rest of the OBF team (including Teddy Peetz and Alissa Larrance) stated, “As we go forward, we’ll be considering creative ways to support our local breweries and cideries through smaller festivals and partnerships,” citing next month’s Hillsbrew Fest as an example.

OBF started in 1988 after Larrance, former owner of Cascade Brewing, was inspired by his journey to Oktoberfest in Munich. In its first year, there were only six breweries in Oregon, but OBF eventually started to draw hundreds of businesses and tens of thousands of visitors each year.


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