Due to lack of volunteers this year’s Great Alaska Craft Beer and Homebrew Festival will be minus the popular homebrew competition. Southeast Alaska State Fair acting Executive Director Amanda Randles says they normally have volunteers organize the homebrew portion of the annual beerfest, but this year the people who have done it in the past are not available. Randles said that with the recent changes in management, “this is not the year for me to take it on and do it in house.” One of the hurdles is that homebrew judges are required to have special training and licensing and there is not enough time to do that even if volunteers were to come forward, she said.

The decision won’t impact the majority of festival participants, as the homebrew competition is not a public event. “The bright news is that it’s not going away forever, and we will bring it back next year,” Randles said.

The festival’s general and connoisseur level tickets are sold out, but there are still some tickets available for the Brewer’s Dinner by Haines Chef Travis Kukull of Malo Nista Catering. They cost $100.00.

Randles has heard rumors of an online ticket scam offering discounted prices, and cautions anyone from purchasing festival tickets anywhere except from the fair in person or through seakfair.org. The festival is May 26 -7. For more information call the fair office at 907-766-2476.